Loch Ness are entering their second season in the North Caledonian League on the back of a summer title success.
One of the newcomers to the set-up last year, the club were competing in League Two as the divisions were split in reaction to the pandemic.
Now they are part of the reformed 12-side division and they are fresh from winning the Inverness Amateur Premier Division.
They will be stepping from that glittering success into the more competitive nature of the NCL, with their first fixture a week on Wednesday away to Nairn County reserves.
Unbeaten season for Loch Ness
Manager Shane Carling feels competing in the top amateur league in Inverness throughout ‘down-time’ has been worthwhile, yet challenging at the same time.
He said: “We won the Amateur Premier League last Wednesday (with a 3-1 win over Contin). We’ve been an amateur club for over 20 years, so we just kept a lot of our boys together.
“Everyone’s been playing twice a week. We have a couple of training sessions this coming week ahead of our first game.
“It’s just been difficult to fit in any sort of pre-season when everyone is still playing amateur football. It can be a bit much, but we are looking forward to the new (North Caledonian League) season.
FULL TIME:
CONTIN 1-3 LOCH NESS
THE ABACUS IS OUT TO SEE IF WE HAVE WON THE LEAGUE!
— Loch Ness Football Club (@LochNessFC) August 12, 2021
“The amateur season has been great for us. We’re almost finished and we’re still undefeated. We’ve drawn one and won the rest, so that’s been great.
“We know it’s a different level from the North Caley but we’ve kept the boys ticking over. It’s 10 games and like a wee mini-season for us. It has been good.”
Carling relishing fresh challenge
The boss said that perhaps only three of his amateur title-winners will make up the squad for the new NCL campaign.
In their first season, Loch Ness earned 15 points in Division Two.
While Carling believes it could and should have been a more fruitful outcome, he’s relishing the chance to see how his players rise to the test of facing the best sides such as champions Golspie and runners-up Invergordon.
He added: “To be honest, I felt our first season was a bit disappointing, given the squad that we had.
“We should have done better and had a few poor results, mainly too many draws.
“However, at the end of the day, it was our first year at this level and it was a learning curve for us.
“We’re looking forward to being part of just one league now, playing against the big guns. We’ll get our heads down and let’s see what we can do.”
