Lossiemouth manager Joe Russell believes it won’t be long before his side start putting points on the board.
The Coasters have started the season with a 2-0 home loss to Fraserburgh in the Highland League and a 4-2 penalty shoot-out defeat to Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale after a 4-4 draw in the Scottish Cup.
This weekend Huntly visit Grant Park and Russell reckons the side – who finished bottom when last season’s Highland League was finalised on points-per-game – are making progress.
He said: “We’ve showed that character at times in games before, but it hasn’t been consistent.
“But last week we showed character and battled all the way through and it was similar against Fraserburgh.
“With the additions we’ve made we feel we’ve got a settled back four and I hope we keep going and the boys gain confidence and believe they are capable of getting results.
“Fraserburgh on the first day was always going to be a tough ask and Lothian were another good side on Saturday, but I was really pleased with some of the football we played.
“I just hope we can get over the line and start getting wins under the belt and not be nearly men.
“But we’ll keep going and I don’t think we are too far away from winning a few games.”
Russell hopes Lossie can get off the mark this weekend against the Black and Golds.
He added: “You always want to play teams closer to you to judge where you are.
“We beat Huntly in the first game of last season, but they’ll be confident after winning in the Scottish Cup and although it won’t be easy I’m hoping we can put in a good challenge and come away with the points.”
In the Scottish Cup last weekend Lossiemouth came from 2-0 and 3-1 down to lead 4-3 in extra-time before drawing 4-4 and being defeated on spot-kicks.
Despite that Russell was pleased with the togetherness of his squad.
He said: “I can’t complain about conceding the equaliser, but to lose on penalties was devastating.
“There were some sad faces on the bus on the way back up the road – but that’s football.
“I can’t complain because we showed a lot of character from 3-1 up to force extra-time and then lead 4-3.
“But there’s a real togetherness there, they’re all pulling for each other and it was really good to see.”
Scottish Cup postponement
Meanwhile, last night’s Scottish Cup second preliminary round tie between Formartine United and Turriff United at North Lodge Park was postponed.
It has been rescheduled for Saturday which means Formartine’s game with Inverurie Locos and Turriff’s fixture against Strathspey Thistle have been postponed.
