Don't ask yourself 'what if' after cup final, warns Pentland boss
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"Don't leave that pitch asking yourself 'what if'," is Pentland boss Michael Gray's message to his troops ahead of Saturday's Colin Macleod Memorial Cup final.
The Dunnet side face perennial rivals Wick Groats at Castletown's Back Park venue in the first of a cup final double-header.
Both sides will meet each next month to contest the Eain Mackintosh final that they made after their respective victories in the last four of that competition earlier this week but first up is the Colin Macleod trophy.
Pentland last won the cup back in 2013 beating, coincidently, this weekend's opponents 2-0 thanks to goals from Lucas Geruzel and Sean Campbell.
No doubt Gray will be wanting a repeat from his side, who will be without Gary Mackay, Sean Forbes and Murray Mackintosh with Andy Hardwick rated as a doubt as well, but insists his players must leave everything out on the pitch if that is to happen.
He said: "There has to be no 'what ifs' from the team come full-time.
"In order to win, everything has to be left out there. We know fine well how good a side Wick Groats are and the only way to beat them is to give your best.
"Even if we lose, as long as we leave no stone unturned and perform to the highest level we can then we would have no regrets. We don't want to leave that pitch wondering if we could have done this or we could have done that.
"A few of the boys were with us last season when we won the Highland Amateur Cup and that will stand us in good stead for this one. However, we want to instil a trophy-winning habit with this team.
"I have to encourage the guys that these type of games don't come around every week so it's crucial that we put in a good performance.
"A lot has been made by others of the rivalry we have with Groats but we just have to concentrate on ourselves and look to match and better whatever they throw at us come Saturday."
Meanwhile, Wick Groats boss Kevin Anderson saw his sunny disposition clouded somewhat with the news that a trio of his players will miss the final for paella and sangria.
One of the perils of lower league football is players missing either for work reasons of having booked a holiday months in advance – with the latter obstacle threatening to hamper Groats' chances of their first success in this competition since they last won it in 2015 when they cleaned up every trophy that was up for grabs in a famous clean sweep.
He said: "Ben Sinclair, Brandon Sinclair and Jack McKechnie will not be playing for us on Saturday as they are all off on holiday.
"In fairness to them, this sort of thing comes with the territory – it's just unfortunate they'll all be missing a cup final.
"Ben's off to Salou in Spain while Brandon and Jack are away to the islands at Ibiza and Magaluf respectively.
"But this presents a great opportunity for some of our fringe players to come in and stake a claim for regular first team football.
"We are all looking forward to this one and although we beat them 2-0 in the league earlier this season, all of that goes out the window in a cup final.
"In fact, when we play each other, no two games are the same. We know how tough Pentland can be and whoever performs on the day will win the trophy.
