Fort William captain Aidan Taylor believes it’s only a matter of time before they start getting results.
The Lochaber side have rebuilt their squad over the past month under new manager Shadab Iftikhar in their bid to stay in the Breedon Highland League.
Fort – who are eight points adrift at the foot of the table – are aiming to get off the bottom and avoid the relegation play-off.
Skipper Taylor is upbeat about the future after working under Iftikhar.
The 21-year-old defender said: “I’ve really enjoyed the transition with the new manager and a new team being put together.
“It’s a new start for us, we’ve got a new manager and new players and we’ve had to work hard in training because we’ve basically started from scratch.
“We want to be a team that’s capable of competing in the Highland League and I feel like we’re on track with that.
“I know we’ve not had the results we wanted in the last few weeks, but there have been positives.
“We’ve been working on our weaknesses in training and it’s just a matter of time before results start coming our way.
“The priority is to stay up, so the sooner we can start picking up points the better.
“We’ve got to do it for the community and for the club, and we’ve got the facilities and the ability to do it.
“It’s just a case of working hard and listening to the manager, and if we do that we can get there.”
Extra training
Having brought in a host of new faces, Fort William have increased their training schedule as Iftikhar tries to mould them into a side capable of staying up.
Extra training has put an increased burden on the players, but it’s something Taylor relishes.
He added: “We’ve moved to more of an intensive plan and we’re training three or four times a week, which is a big sacrifice for the likes of myself because I’ve got a job and have to balance that with football.
“But it’s for the love of football and, being captain, I want to see Fort William do well and see the town get behind us.”
New boys up to the task
Iftikhar’s revamp of the Fort playing staff has been so drastic that, of last weekend’s 17-man squad which took on Buckie Thistle, only Taylor, Darren Brew and Mateusz Kulbacki were at Claggan Park at the start of the season.
Taylor has enjoyed getting to know the new additions and, ahead of facing Inverurie Locos on Saturday, said: “We’ve got guys from all over and I’ve been very impressed with them.
“They’re good players with different personalities, different ideas and different ways of playing.
Fort William Starting Lineup:
1. Mateusz Kulbacki
2. Joshua Niblock
3. Jordon Thompson
4. Aidan Taylor (C)
5. Niels Lellouch
6. Darren Brew
7. Brian Mabhena
8. Taylor Kelly
9. Diakete Diallo
10. Adam Morris
11. Mohamed Aboiftah— Fort William FC (@FortWilliamFC) January 22, 2022
“We’ve got a good mix of boys and we’re starting to come together as a team.
“I think that’s already showing, even though we’ve only been together for a short time.
“It’s another difficult game against Inverurie, but we’ve been working on how to break them down and exploit their weaknesses.
“We’ll use our strengths as best we can and hopefully we come away with a result.”
