Ryan Cowie is proud to have joined Fraserburgh’s 300 club.
The defender reached a triple century of appearances for the Broch in last week’s Breedon Highland League victory against Brechin City.
Cowie believes he has come a long way since arriving at Bellslea in 2012.
The 30-year-old said: “It gives me great satisfaction to reach 300 appearances.
“I think when I first came to the Broch some punters would’ve been surprised if I reached 30 appearances.
“Playing alongside guys like Russell McBride and Steven Main helped my game a lot.
“I listened to them and tried to improve in aspects which would make me a better player.
“I think I’ve improved a lot in my time at Fraserburgh and that’s what happens when you play with better players and experienced players and learn from them.
“I’m at 300 games, but it’s not unfamiliar for a player at Fraserburgh to reach that milestone, because there are a lot of guys who have reached 200, 300 and even more.
“When I came there was Russell McBride, Steven Main, Graham Johnston who had all done it and now you’ve got Willie West, Bryan Hay, Paul Leask, and Marc Dickson did it as well.
“Listening to those experienced guys and taking on bits of advice really helped me.
“Hopefully now I can pass some things on to the likes of Ryan Sargent and Logan Watt, because I’d love for them as local guys to hit the milestones that Willie West, Bryan Hay, Paul Leask and others have hit.”
Fitness ‘obsession’ has been important
Cowie believes his fitness has been crucial in allowing him to play 300 times for Fraserburgh.
The former Turriff United player does extra work away from training to ensure he’s in shape to perform.
He also tried to help others in the Broch squad and during lockdown he held fitness sessions on zoom.
Cowie added: “Since I started doing more fitness stuff, it’s become an obsession.
“When I first came to Fraserburgh, Kris Hunter said I’d be playing left-back and I just assumed that was defending.
“But he told me he was looking for high energy up and down the park the whole time.
“The thing you realise playing there is that you’re probably attacking just as much as you’re defending.
“I knew I’d need to be at my best physically to make sure I could do that job for 90 minutes.
“I spoke about the experienced players helping me in terms of the football side and I’ve tried to do what I can to help others with the fitness element.
“I think Mark would agree that it has improved our squad depth, because players that might have before been classed as fringe players are now being classed as influential and can be used at any moment.
“That was something Mark (Cowie, the manager) said after the Brechin game that everything is unpredictable with Covid.
“But regardless of how many players he may have unavailable, he was still confident he could field a strong 11 capable of winning any match in the Highland League.
“That’s all credit to some of the younger players and the guys that might have been classed as squad players, because they raise the levels at training and we go into games with that intensity.
“So I think all the players deserve credit for that and the work they’ve been doing.”
