Lossiemouth captain Liam Archibald wants to reach the North of Scotland Cup final as a reward for the club’s loyal supporters.
The Coasters face Brora Rangers at Dudgeon Park with a winner going forward to play Rothes in the final at Lossiemouth’s Grant Park on Saturday week.
Lossie haven’t won a trophy since lifting the North of Scotland Cup in season 2002-03, although they did reach final of the tournament in 2017, but lost 2-0 to Brora.
Skipper Archibald is hoping to earn another shot at silverware this term.
‘At Lossie it’s all positive’
The 29-year-old said: “It would be brilliant if we could get into the final.
“It’s been a while since the club won anything and having been there for a number of years it’s a great club.
“Lossie will take guys from Junior football who want to try to progress and bring through young players.
“There’s loyal supporters at Lossie and they probably deserve to see us pick up a trophy.
“At other clubs you hear shouts from the side and criticism, but at Lossie it’s all positive and they always encourage us.
“There’s guys like Dougie Malcolm and Derek Flett who are there all the time and always encouraging.
“You’d love to have success for these people because they deserve it.
“Within the club the management team have stuck with us.
“There has been difficult times and it might have been easy to chuck it in. The board have stuck with it as well and so have the players.
“We’re all trying to work towards something positive. Lossiemouth are never going to go out and buy a lot of players.
“We’re trying to get good local players in and build a squad that can progress.
“It would be good to reach a final to show what is possible if you stick together and keep working hard and also as a reward for the supporters.”
Holders Brora out to retain cup
Brora have won five of the last seven North of Scotland Cups and are the current holders.
They are in good form, having claimed six successive victories without the loss of a goal under interim manager Craig Campbell.
Midfielder Dale Gillespie wants the Cattachs to keep their run going and maintain their grip on the North of Scotland Cup.
The 32-year-old added: “We’ve won six games in a row now without conceding a goal.
“We’ve been playing pretty good football and the atmosphere in the dressing room is good.
“We’ve got near enough a full squad with the exception of a couple of guys.
“At Brora the aim is to win silverware on a regular basis and the club has done well in the North of Scotland Cup in recent seasons.
“It’s a priority to win trophies and hopefully we can win this semi-final and give ourselves the chance against Rothes.
“We’re still the champions from two years ago and we want to retain it.
“For myself personally, getting towards the latter stages of my career, it’s cup finals and winning things that you look back on.
“So it’s a massive priority to try to win another trophy with Brora.”
