Owen Cairns hopes Fraserburgh can mount a challenge for the Highland League title after committing himself to the club for next season.
The full-back – who joined the Broch from Turriff United in the summer of 2019 – recently penned a one-year extension to his contract to take him through until the summer of 2022.
In the 2019-20 season Fraserburgh finished second behind Brora Rangers and the Bellslea side were also second on goal difference when the current campaign was declared over after three games last month.
Cairns believes next term they can challenge again and said: “I don’t think it’s a secret that we want to try to win the league.
“We also all believe that every time we play a game in the Highland League that we are more than capable of winning it.
“There are a number of very strong sides in the Highland League, but we also feel we are a strong side ourselves.
“We want to be ambitious and do the best we can for the club and we want to try to challenge as high up the league as we possibly can and if that means challenging to win it then so be it.”
Previous successes and squad strength
Fraserburgh have shown they are capable of winning trophies after claiming the Aberdeenshire Cup and Aberdeenshire Shield during season 2019-20.
Cairns believes they are capable of landing more silverware in the future.
The 22-year-old added: “Overall we’ve got a strong squad and we’ve shown before we can win trophies.
“When you look at the squad now it’s maybe the strongest it’s been in the last few years because boys that were out with long-term injuries are now fit again.
“From that side of things everyone is raring to go and we feel we are a more than capable side.”
Personal improvement
Cairns believes joining the Broch has been good for his development as a player.
The former Strathspey Thistle player said: “I definitely think I have improved. I’ve always enjoyed the challenge of pushing myself to see how good I can be.
“You want to try to play at the highest level you can.
“When I was at Strathspey I was thinking I wanted to push on to a club higher up which was Turriff.
“Then from Turriff I wanted to push on again and came to Fraserburgh and I think in the last couple of years I have lifted my level.
“I think I probably needed to do that to match the standard demanded by the rest of the Fraserburgh squad and management team, so I do feel I’ve improved in the last couple of years.”
Next season and normality
Fraserburgh’s final game of this season was early this month when they lost 4-2 to Montrose in the Scottish Cup third round.
Cairns is already looking forward to next season and is hopeful supporters will be able to return to grounds as well.
He said: “I think for all players in the Highland League football is a massive part of our lives and it’s the same for fans.
“And to be able to get that back will be brilliant for everyone.
“I think we’ve all missed the feeling of playing and playing in front of supporters.
“We played Montrose the other week in the Scottish Cup and it was great.
“But without having the Fraserburgh fans there it was definitely different. When we went ahead if the fans had been there the place would have been bouncing.
“So not having the fans there was definitely something that was missing.
“But hopefully when next season starts we can have the fans back and they can enjoy watching us play.”
