Lossiemouth promoted James Leslie to club captain and Lewis McAndrew to vice-skipper as the Highland League defenders sign contract extensions at Grant Park
Two of Lossiemouth’s young defenders have been promoted to captaincy roles in a piece of ‘good business’ by manager Steve Porter.
The Coasters boss has persuaded 23-year-old pair James Leslie and Lewis McAndrew to sign contract extensions.
Leslie, who penned a two-year add-on, has become the new club captain with McAndrew, who has signed for another year, being named as vice-skipper.
“Going forward you need some stability,” said Porter. “James and Lewis are two young players who have built up a bit of experience now, they are good lads and good players.
“Getting them signed up longer term is good business for the club.”
Leslie replaced long-serving Liam Archibald as captain with Porter explaining why the arm band was passed over.
“I promoted James to captain for his experience,” he said. “Liam has been the captain for a while and he does an excellent job but it just takes a wee bit of pressure off of him.
“With that pressure off I believe Liam’s performances have been better, he’s really been expressing himself and working hard.”
Porter has also been busy recruiting fresh faces since taking over from Gavin Price at the start of November.
The former Elgin City head of youth development stepped up from a first team coaching role at Lossie to take the managerial job, and quickly set about bringing in local talent.
Ex-Forres Mechanics man Shaun Cameron came in from Dufftown and Ryan Matheson joined from Deveronside, while teenager Oli Hodgson joined from Elgin City and most recently the Coasters signed up-and-coming Islavale stopper Matty Nicol.
“Ryan and Shaun came in late last year and they have been really good and really positive signings for us. Both add a different dimension to the team and give us a bit more attacking threat.
“Matty is a decent player who trained last night and we are looking to integrate him with the squad so he might make his debut on Saturday (against Strathspey Thistle).
“Oli is only 17 and it’s about him getting experience. He’s been at Elgin for a while and didn’t really see himself getting into the first team so he thought he would go and work with a Highland League team.
“He’s got a lot to learn but he has some good talents. He can run, he’s powerful and strong and with the experience of working with some of the older players will do him the world of good and develop him as a player.
“I think he will come good in the next couple of years and that is what we are trying to do. When I first came in, I wouldn’t say it was an ageing squad but there’s quite a lot of mature players and it’s good to get young, talented players in and hopefully we can build for the future.”
Another young player who joined from Islavale at the start of the season, Saul Phimister, has just returned to fitness after dislocating his knee cap.
“We have played him in a couple of games to give him some match fitness and he is doing really well too,” Porter added.
