Formartine United assistant manager Martin Skinner hopes they can meet the demand for success after reaching the Evening Express Aberdeenshire Cup final.
The Pitmedden side edged out Huntly 1-0 in a tense semi-final at North Lodge Park with Julian Wade’s penalty separating the sides.
Formartine, who have lost the last three Aberdeenshire Cup finals, will face Fraserburgh in the final at the Haughs, Turriff on Friday September 30.
For Skinner and manager Stuart Anderson it will be their first final since taking charge.
Skinner said: “The reason we’re here and the players are here is to get to finals and win trophies.
“I don’t think there’s a player here who doesn’t expect and demand that.
“We’ve got a squad that’s pushing each other on because we want to win trophies.
“Huntly are a good side and they’re in a false position in the league.
“They caused problems, but our boys stood up to it and got through it.
“It was an entertaining game but I thought we just did enough.”
Reflecting on the 90 minutes Skinner also praised goalkeeper Ewen Macdonald for a superb second half save to deny Andy Hunter.
He added: “It’s a match-winning save from Ewen, it’s a great save.
“Like most people I was expecting the flag to go up, but we’re told he was onside.
“Andy Hunter’s a goalscorer and sniffs out those chances but in terms of reaction it was a great save from Ewen just when we needed him.”
Early breakthrough
Formartine opened the scoring on nine minutes. Jonny Crawford’s cross from the right found Tyler Mykyta at the back post and he was grounded by James Connelly’s challenge.
After referee Joel Kennedy pointed to the penalty spot Wade found the bottom left corner.
Midway through the first period Huntly striker Hunter send a shot on the turn from Robbie Foster’s cutback narrowly over.
Five minutes before the interval a looping Mykyta shot from 16 yards, after good set-up work from Mark Gallagher, hit the crossbar.
Hunter’s golden chance to equalise arrived at 62 minutes.
A scuffed Connelly shot from long range fell perfectly for him as the home defence appealed for offside, but Hunter’s effort from 12 yards was tipped on to the right post by Macdonald.
Despite their best efforts in the closing stages the Black and Golds couldn’t equalise.
Lack of conviction costs Huntly
Boss Allan Hale said: “It boils down to conviction in both boxes.
“James was caught a couple of yards out of position and gave away the penalty as he’s recovering.
“Then we’ve had plenty of chances to score goals and the one from Andy is a poor miss to say the least.
“If you don’t take your chances you don’t deserve to win semi-finals.
“Andy’s very disappointed and he should be, it’s important you take accountability.
“But it’s not solely down to him, we’ve had plenty of opportunities where if we make the right decision with the pass we’re in on goal.”
Huntly also handed a debut off the bench to 18-year-old Dundee midfielder Cameron Blacklock who joined on loan prior to kick-off.
Hale added: “I’m delighted to bring him in. Technically he’s very good, he sees things a little bit quicker than one or two others and he’ll add a lot to us on the ball which is what we need.”
