Scottish Cup: Rothes take on Dalbeattie Star and Fraser Robertson could be the man to fire the Speysiders into round three for the very first time
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ROTHES have never reached the third round of the Scottish Cup before, but midfielder Fraser Robertson wants to help the club make more history.
The 26-year-old has already been part of the Speysiders’ first-ever Highland League Cup triumph last October, and the Moray side’s first North Cup success in over 40 years when they beat Brora in the final this month.
Tonight, Rothes make the long journey down to Dumfries and Galloway for an overnight stay ahead of tomorrow’s Scottish Cup clash with Dalbeattie Star.
Victory over the Lowland League side would take Robertson and his team-mates into uncharted territory, a place in the third round of the cup.
“I don’t think Rothes have ever made it to that stage before, so that’s the aim,” he said. “If we can get through this and get a decent enough draw, you never know what can happen after that.”
Robertson arrived at Rothes from Clach, and in two-and-a-half years at Mackessack Park he has become a firm favourite for his displays, and his knack of scoring goals.
He scored in the Speysiders’ 3-0 win at home to Deveronvale last weekend - Jack Brown got the other two. That was an important result for the team to bounce back from losing their unbeaten 15-game run at Brora a few days earlier.
"We didn’t play well against Vale in the first half. We wanted to get the Brora defeat out of our system by going out there all guns blazing but it didn’t quite go to plan.
"But we got into our stride in the second half and managed to get a win and bounce back.
“We can’t dwell on that one defeat too much. We didn’t really turn up for the Brora game but out with that we have been doing really well, so there’s a feeling just now that we can go into any game and win, we don’t really fear playing against anyone at the moment.
Robertson has netted in three of Rothes’ last four games and has five for the season, a tally he is intent on improving over time.
“It’s been good to add a few goals of late. I had quite a slow start to the season goal-wise but more recently I’ve built my numbers up.
“I always try and get into the box and get on the end of things or take shots from the edge of the box. Recently it has been paying off.
“About ten goals has been my best so hopefully this season I can get past that.”
Robertson is thrilled to be part of a successful Rothes team. “When I first came we were still trying to find our feet in the building process but now I think we’ve got a really solid squad that can compete high up the league and in the cup competitions as we’ve seen.
“It’s been a long time for Rothes with no success so to be able to win two trophies in such a short space of time, I think it shows how far the club has come.
"A lot of the credit has to go to everyone associated with the club.
"There’s a good bunch of supporters that come to all of our games and make a lot of noise.
"You could see it at the cup final how they were there in numbers and it really spurs the boys on.
