Keir Smith is eager to continue Turriff United’s good form when Formartine United visit the Haughs tonight.
Turra have struggled for large chunks of this season but in their last two Breedon Highland League outings they have defeated Deveronvale 6-0 and drawn 1-1 with leaders Fraserburgh.
Striker Smith believes Dean Donaldson’s charges have turned a corner.
The 22-year-old said: “We’ve started to get rewarded for some decent performances. We’ve had some decent performances where we haven’t kept clean sheets or scored goals.
“But things seem to have turned for us in the last couple of games.
“The result against Fraserburgh was maybe a bit of a surprise, but we’ve always believed in ourselves and the Deveronvale game was definitely one we felt we could win.
“We’ve been working towards those results for a while and the hard work we’ve put in has started to pay off.
“There’s the chance for us to string a few results together now.
“There’s no reason why we can’t get something against Formartine, we’ve been scoring more goals and conceding less.
“We know it will be a tough game but if we put on another good performance then there’s no reason why we can’t get something.”
Friendship goes out the window
Meanwhile, Formartine United striker Jonny Smith has been pleased to see Turriff improve in recent weeks.
The 33-year-old is good friends with Donaldson and his coaches, but is still determined to stop them securing a good result against the Pitmedden side.
Smith added: “Turriff have picked up in the last couple of weeks and with Dean and the management team there I think that was always going to happen.
“Dean had a tough job on his hands initially, but he’s a really good mate of mine and I know he never shies away from the challenge.
“I’m delighted for him that the hard work is starting to pay off. Although they have been getting beat a lot they have been playing well and they are a good young team.
“It was at Keith where I first met Dean and we became good mates and then we played together at Cove and we’ve always been friendly.
“Likewise his coaches Jamie Lennox and Bruce Raffell are really good mates as well and I’m pleased for them.
“Although I don’t like scoring against Dean I’m definitely looking to add to my total in this game.”
Formartine are sixth in the table and appear to be out of the title race.
But Smith, who has netted 19 goals this season, says they still have plenty to play for in their remaining nine games.
He said: “At Formartine it’s a team of winners and we’re not happy with where we are.
“The manager has stressed that next season starts now and we need to start preparing for next season.”
