Thurso 'too good a team to be bottom of North Caledonian League'
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Thurso manager Scott Davidson is telling his players not to be downhearted by their present position at the foot of the North Caledonian League.
The Vikings were beaten 3-0 at home by St Duthus last weekend but Davidson is confident they will start climbing the table once they catch up with their games in hand. Thurso welcome sixth-placed Clachnacuddin "A" to the Dammies this Saturday.
"Obviously we are bottom of the table but we have games in hand on the teams above us," Davidson said. "I've been trying to tell the boys not to get so downhearted with the league position at the moment, because with the games in hand still to play that could change the league position quite significantly.
"I said to the boys after the game on Saturday that we're far too good a team to be bottom of the league.
"We're doing well for spells in games, say 60 to 70 per cent of the game, but we're just not getting that luck in the final third."
Jack Kerr scored in the first half for St Duthus, with the other goals coming after the break from Billy Cairns and Paul Laughlin.
Davidson said: "There were positives to take. We had long spells during the game where we did dominate possession but we're just not getting the rub of the green in front of goal just now, unfortunately, and again we conceded three cheap goals – probably all of them avoidable.
"We do need to start taking chances."
Looking ahead to Saturday's match, he said: "We'll be trying to get three points. Clach are a bit of an unknown quantity – sometimes they can be really good, sometimes not so much.
"We are playing some nice football at times. But you can play all the nice football you want – if you're not going to score then we can't win games at the end of the day.
"That's my challenge to the team now. We need to start taking our chances during games because, if not, evidently we're not going to win games.
"There has been a big improvement in the last three or four weeks. We've got more togetherness in the squad and everyone is fighting for each other now.
"That's something that we maybe lacked a wee bit at the start of the season."
Last weekend Clachnacuddin "A" emulated Halkirk United by inflicting a 6-1 defeat on Orkney.
There were two goals each for Robbie Murray and Tony Miller in Golspie's 4-1 win against Bonar Bridge, with Shadi Ali getting a consolation for Bonar.
Sam Urquhart hit all four goals for champions Loch Ness in their 4-3 victory at Inverness Athletic.
Invergordon were 3-0 winners over Alness United in the Easter Ross derby.
North Caledonian League results: Clachnacuddin "A" 6, Orkney 1; Fort William 0, Halkirk United 4; Golspie 4, Bonar Bridge 1; Invergordon 3, Alness United 0; Inverness Athletic 3, Loch Ness 4; Thurso 0, St Duthus 3.
North Caledonian League fixtures for Saturday: Bonar Bridge v Halkirk United (1pm); Invergordon v Fort William; Inverness Athletic v Golspie; Orkney v Alness United; Loch Ness v St Duthus; Thurso v Clachnacuddin "A" (1pm).
