Rothes aim to dispel Formartine fears
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ALREADY victims of two double figure defeats this season, Rothes could be forgiven for dreading a trip to high scoring Formartine United this weekend.
But the Highland League’s bottom side can give the Pitmedden big spenders a decent game if they put in the hard graft, says co-boss Paul Lamberton.
Formartine thrashed Lossiemouth 8-2 last Saturday, a week after an 8-1 victory at Deveronvale to signal their intentions of claiming a first-ever title success.
They are expected to dish out a similar scoreline – or worse – when Rothes pay a visit to North Lodge Park on Saturday.
Lamberton was encouraged by his own team’s performance in last week’s 3-0 defeat against Nairn and is calling on his players to produce a similar effort.
"We expect our players when they put on that jersey to work hard, have positive attitude and commitment, all that things," he said. "Whatever happens after that, we’ll take.
"We know technically Formartine have got better players than us, overall."
Yet Lamberton has faith in the ability of his own players, saying youngsters like Inverurie Locos loan lad Ryan Keir are capable of competing against more experienced opponents.
"For me, young Ryan could play in a lot of teams in the Highland League.
"We have got good players as well. We know squad wise they’re better than us but at the end of the day it’s eleven versus eleven and if we work hard and keep trying to do the right things, we will take what happens. "We ran Brora close at the tail end of last season so it can be done. We will need a bit of luck but I think we deserve that because since I’ve been here there’s not been a lot going about.
"We are not going to go to Formartine fearing them either. We will go there and we will have a game plan and if the players stick to it, myself and Willie (co-manager Duncan) will be happy."
Don’t miss Friday’s Northern Scot for Lamberton’s assessment of the new regime at Rothes, and an interview with young loan sensation Ryan Keir.
