Formartine United forward Scott Barbour is confident the Pitmedden men have the strength in depth to cope with his side’s crucial three matches this week.
United are fresh from a 4-0 triumph against East Stirling in the Scottish Cup on Saturday, but attention quickly turns to two difficult away matches in the league, with tonight’s trip to Rothes followed by Saturday’s game at Brora Rangers.
Former Fraserburgh attacker Barbour would far rather be playing than seeing postponements rack up, and feels manager Paul Lawson’s squad is capable of dealing with the busy schedule.
Barbour said: “We cannot complain about having too many games to play, they are coming thick and fast. But any player will say they prefer the match action to training.
“There’s nothing worse than a lot of games being called off over the winter months, it takes a few extra minutes at the start of games to get up to speed after a long lay off.
“We’ve got a strong squad here. Johnny Crawford and Garry Wood were on the bench on Saturday. Garry was injured in our first friendly of the season after looking really good in pre-season. It will be good to have him and Johnny back fully fit. Jevan Anderon is a very young player who has done very well at centre back but we miss the experience Johnny brings.
“Another young player getting regular games is Liam Burnett. He’s a local lad who gets stuck in but he likes a moan, it must be a sign he is hungry to do well.”
Barbour netted a double in Formartine’s victory against Lowland League side Shire on Saturday, helping the Aberdeenshire side set up a third home tie of the competition against League 1 club Forfar Athletic on November 18. Having already seen off Turriff with a late goal in the opening round, it gets tougher from now onwards but Barbour is determined to progress.
He added: “My first reaction at the final whistle was that another home tie would be good and we have that. We know the big clubs are coming into the next draw and we desperately want to be involved.
“It was a great experience going to Firhill to play Partick Thistle last season.”
