Brora Rangers hope to complete a short-term deal to sign former Caley Thistle midfielder Nick Ross in time for Saturday’s Scottish Cup tie against Coldstream.
Ross, who won the competition with Inverness in 2015, has been out of contract since his short stint with Romanian side Sepsi Sfantu Gheorghe ended in the summer, but has trained with the Cattachs in recent weeks.
Although Ross remains on the lookout for a full-time move, with America a possible destination, the 26-year-old has made a flexible arrangement with Brora boss Steven Mackay to feature for the Sutherland club in the meantime.
Brora are now waiting to receive clearance from the Romanian Football Federation for Ross to feature in Saturday’s second round tie against East of Scotland League side Coldstream at Dudgeon Park, and Ross said: “I have been training with them in the last few weeks. I’m friends with Gavin Morrison who has been there for a few years, and was on to me every week to see what I was up to.
“The cup game this weekend is quite a big one for the club so I said I could be available for that if we can get something sorted.
“Brora have been pretty flexible with me. I don’t want to say I’ll play five or 10 games for them and then I can’t do that. I don’t like to let people down.
“With no disrespect to the Highland League, it’s not where I want to be but I need games. Training is all well and good.
“If Brora have a few big games coming up I’m more than happy to help. If I’m still free I will look into it, but if anything happens on my side things might change.
“There is no pressure from the club at all. We are just taking it as it comes.”
oss began his career with hometown club Inverness before moving on to Dundee in the wake of Caley Jags’ Scottish Cup success three years ago, with his four-month spell in Romania his only action since leaving the Dark Blues in 2017.
Ross wants to put himself back in the shop window by impressing for Brora, with America an option he is considering.
He added: “Hopefully people can be reminded I am still around, as people forget quite quickly about what you have achieved in football.
“That’s the problem I had over the summer. People look more at the fact I’ve not played many games recently, but before that I played over 200 games in the top level of Scotland.
“There was a time when I wasn’t even thinking about football, just waiting to see what would happen but after one training session I was hooked again and desperate to get back playing.
“America is probably my best option at the moment. The league has just about finished there and teams are looking for new players.
“If an opportunity came I would jump at it, but with the amount of times I have thought I was going somewhere but it didn’t happen, I don’t want to jinx it.
“I know boys out there who really enjoy it so we’ll see if it’s a possibility.”
Brora boss Mackay said: “It’s fairly fluid. We are hoping we can get him for two, three or four games and if that leads to anything more, great.
“It will be good if we can have a former Scottish Cup winner involved in a second round tie this weekend.”
