Craig Ewen hopes Kieran Mooney can continue to shoulder Keith’s goalscoring burder ahead of their Morrison Motors (Turriff) Aberdeenshire Shield clash with Inverurie Locos.
The Maroons host the Railwaymen at Kynoch Park tonight in round one of the Shield.
Mooney netted a hat-trick for Keith in their 6-1 win against Strathspey at the weekend.
Although he joined the Moray side as a wide player, manager Ewen has started using Mooney up front this season.
Ewen said: “Kieran’s got pace and having that in forward areas can be a huge asset.
“In his mind, I’m not sure if he thinks playing as a striker is the best position for him.
“Last season he made 17 appearances for us and predominantly that was playing wide.
“But this season he’s mainly played through the middle as a striker. We didn’t really set the heather alight in the final third at the start of the season.
“So we’ve tried something different and Kieran’s scored six goals in seven starts.
“He’s done well, he works hard and technically he’s also good so if we can keep creating chances for Kieran hopefully he’ll keep taking them.”
Looking ahead to facing Locos added: “We’re the underdogs, I think most people would expect Inverurie to beat Keith.
“They’ll be strong and well-organised, we need to try to match that and better them on the night.”
Meanwhile, Inverurie striker Garry Wood is well aware of the importance of trying to progress in cup competitions.
The 34-year-old said: “With where we are in the league and the teams ahead of us the cups are the best avenue for us to win silverware this season.
“If you win three games you are in a final so it’s a good chance for every team involved.
“And we’re certainly wanting to do as well as we can in the competition.
“But you usually always get a tough game at Kynoch Park and that’s what we’ll be expecting.
“We’ll need to be at our best if we want to win and get through to the next round.”
Friendly foes Buckie and Dyce clash
Elsewhere, Buckie Thistle host Junior side Dyce at Victoria Park and both sides are familiar with one another.
Jags boss Graeme Stewart explained: “We have a nice tie-up with Dyce.
“I’m friends with the manager Alfie Youngson, I’ve known him for about 20 years after playing with him at Peterhead.
“Our Aberdeen-based players train with Dyce on a Monday and we’ve got Lyall Keir on loan at Dyce as well.
“It’s a relationship that’s worked quite well for the last two or three years.
“I know quite a bit about their players and Alfie knows quite a bit about mine so it’s two sides that probably couldn’t be any more prepared.
“It’s nice to play them but we’re there to win and Dyce will be the same.
“I know Alfie wants to play good football and have a young, hungry, aggressive team.”
Dyce manager Alfie Youngson added: “Having some of Buckie’s players training with us is a great benefit for our players to see the likes of Andrew MacAskill, Sam Pugh and Max Barry.
“It shows the quality you’ve got to have to get to the level Buckie are at and they’re a level or maybe a couple of levels above us.
“But we’ll set our team up to try to win, but we know the odds are stacked against us because Buckie have some outstanding players.
“We’ll need to be at our best and hope Buckie have an off night.”
