First venture into the Covid-19 football world for Lossiemouth was a heavy defeat at Elgin City and assistant manager Ian Campbell says it will be a lesson learned for his young team
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
LOSSIEMOUTH’S first venture into the Covid-restricted football world proved to be a tough lesson for the young Coasters on Saturday.
Turning up at Borough Briggs already changed for their first match in six months, Lossie were understandably caught cold in their closed doors friendly against Elgin City.
The 9-1 scoreline in Elgin’s favour was of little significance, as the fitness workout his players received was more important to assistant manager Ian Campbell.
“The game was organised quite a while ago and the idea was for it to be our second-last friendly, so our boys were up to speed and that we could make it a bit more competitive than it was,” said Campbell.
“But it was more about fitness. The boys had to work hard and run about and that is what it’s all about.
“It was a good experiment for the Covid thing as well. It’s quite involved to even get a friendly done.
“We had to come changed and ready to play and go away without showers or anything.
“But our pre-season is going well. The boys were doing a lot of running themselves and they are relatively fit but match fitness is a different thing.
“It was a big pitch for the boys to be out on for their first game and Elgin played really well and we probably weren’t at our best. But it’s only the first game in a long time.”
Big plus points for Lossie included new signing Martin Charlesworth coming through a full 90 minutes of action unscathed.
The Coasters have trained with some trialists on board, but Campbell said no decisions will be made until manager Joe Russell returns from a stint abroad with the RAF on October 7.
One who featured on Saturday is Ross Archibald, who has left Deveronvale and could be in line for another spell at Lossie.
Charlesworth and fellow new boy Jared Kennedy showed up well, while Ross Elliott and Ryan Sewell were big threats when Lossie did break into Elgin territory.
The coronavirus pandemic has created a problem for the Coasters’ training schedule. Normally granted use of the RAF Lossiemouth astro pitches every week, the facility is currently closed with no plans to reopen it before Christmas.
Instead, Lossie have been doing stints at the town’s playing fields, and Campbell is asking his committee for occasional use of Grant Park itself, since there will be less home games played there in the season due to the shortened programme.
