Fraserburgh veteran Bryan Hay and Formartine United stalwart Stuart Smith are determined to savour Evening Express Aberdeenshire Cup success again.
The sides meet in the 126th Shire Cup final tonight at the Haughs, Turriff.
Since making his Broch debut in 2006, Hay has helped the Bellslea outfit win this competition on five occasions.
But the defender – who is closing in on 500 Fraserburgh appearances and will celebrate his testimonial with a game against St Johnstone in December – remains hungry for more success.
Hay, 33, said: “It does mean a lot to have won this tournament – the cup goes back a long time and there’s a lot of history.
“And Fraserburgh has a lot of history in the competition. We love to win it, hopefully we can do it again.
“The desire to win things probably gets stronger the older you get, because there’s less time left for you to win things.
“In my Broch career, I had a slow start in terms of winning things. It’s only in the last nine or 10 years since Kris Hunter and then Mark Cowie took over that I’ve won medals.
“It gets the juices flowing when you win things and you want to keep doing it – especially when you see what it means to the fans and the people on the committee at the club.
“It’s a great trophy to win and it means a lot of everyone at the club and in the town. It’s not just about the players.”
Smith looking for cup treble
Smith was part of the Formartine sides who won the Aberdeenshire Cup in 2013 and 2017.
The defender, who celebrated his testimonial with a game against Aberdeen in pre-season, would love to make it a hat-trick.
The 33-year-old added: “For me there’s more football behind me than in front of me at this stage of my career.
“Any final you get to, you don’t know if it’s going to be your last, so I’m delighted we’re there again and hopefully we can get a good result.
“They were great days for us when we won the cup. The first trophy I won with Formartine was the Aberdeenshire Cup against Inverurie.
“Then a few years later we beat Cove at Balmoor to win it again and that was a fantastic occasion against a really good Cove side.
“Those are great memories and, if we were able to get a win this time, it would be up there with those memories.
“If you’re not concerned about winning trophies or winning games then that’s the time to pack it in.
“I’ll keep going as long as that hunger and desire to win games and win trophies is still there.”
United look to end losing final run as Broch aim for top form
Formartine have come close to more Shire Cup success in recent times, having lost in the last three finals – twice to Fraserburgh and last season to Banks o’ Dee.
Smith said: “It’s never nice to lose a final and hopefully we can change that.
“Getting to finals is a good thing, we need to try to enjoy it and win or lose we need to have no regrets at the end of the game.
“Fraserburgh are traditionally a good cup team and they’re league champions so it’ll be a hard game.”
Fraserburgh may be Breedon Highland League champions, but this term they’re sitting sixth, three places below Formartine.
Hay reckons they’ve still to hit top form, and added: “Formartine are a good team and it will be a really tough game.
“We probably haven’t hit the standards we did last season so far for various reasons.
“Hopefully we can start in the final and get the win.”
- You can watch highlights and reaction from the Evening Express Aberdeenshire Cup final and North of Scotland Cup final at 7pm on Monday here.
Who are you backing for Friday's @EveningExpress Aberdeenshire Cup final – @FormartineUtd or @FraserburghFC? 🏆
🗣 We spoke to ex-United striker Cammy Keith and former Broch hitman Gary Harris about the game – which we'll be filming for #HighlandLeagueWeekly 👇 @ADFA1887 pic.twitter.com/3pVPsseEDH
— Highland League Weekly (@HighlandLW) September 28, 2022
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