Halkirk United focus is on final flourish as they look to beat St Duthus and lift North Caledonian Cup
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
MANAGER Ewan McElroy says Halkirk United will go into tomorrow’s North Caledonian Cup final against St Duthus with a ‘nothing to lose’ mentality.
The Anglers will look to lift their first trophy of the season when they take on the Tain outfit at Dudgeon Park in Brora tomorrow afternoon at 3pm.
Halkirk United have had an impressive season so far, as they are still within a chance of winning the North Caledonian League and reached the Football Times Cup final earlier this season when they lost to Thurso on penalties.
Halkirk warmed up for the final with an impressive 3–1 win at league leaders Invergordon last weekend.
But St Duthus are also in good form and beat league title contenders Loch Ness 3–0 last week.
With the league’s two form teams going head to head tomorrow, McElroy says they are expecting a tough clash against Saints.
“It is going to be a huge challenge for the boys and we know how good St Duthus have been, especially in the final part of the season,” said McElroy.
They showed again on Saturday winning 3–0 against Loch Ness that they have quality all the way through their squad.
“We have absolutely nothing to lose, our boys have been terrific in the last couple of months and we are all looking forward to the experience of playing in another cup final this season.”
McElroy says it is unfortunate that the cup final is being played while they are still in the hunt for the league title.
But he says they are keeping all their focus on tomorrow’s clash and putting the league to the back of their minds.
“We were obviously disappointed with the timing of the final, but are putting that to one side and concentrating on the difficult task at hand,” he said. “Unfortunately we picked up another couple of injures on Saturday and will need to assess both as late on as possible this week.
“These things happen in football and it’s always an opportunity for another player to come in.”
McElroy says their 3–1 win at Invergordon last week was the response he demanded from his players as they head into the final and believes they have an outside chance of a league and cup double.
“The boys were fantastic on Saturday, we were disappointed with the Golspie match earlier in the week and it was the perfect response from the squad.
“Their attitude was bang on from the start and I thought we out-battled Invergordon, got the ball down and played some really positive, attractive football.
“Obviously it keeps the title race open until the last couple of weeks, with ourselves and Loch Ness having an outside chance.
“Invergordon remain favourites as they just have to beat Orkney at home. Our
aim remains the same regardless, we take each game as it comes and finish as high up the table and as close to the front pack as possible.”
