Marc Lawrence is hoping to help Fraserburgh into the Morrison Motors (Turriff) Aberdeenshire Shield final after returning to the club from the United States.
The midfielder is back in the north-east after four-and-half-years in America, and rejoined the Broch at the end of last week.
Lawrence, 24, is set to be involved when the Breedon Highland League champions face Huntly at Christie Park in the semi-final of the Shield, although snow and frost in recent days could lead to the postponement of Wednesday night’s game.
He said: “In general, it was quite an easy decision. Mark Cowie has always kept in touch with me in terms of what I was doing.
“When I’ve been home over the summer I’ve done a couple of pre-seasons with Fraserburgh. When I’ve been home at Christmas I trained with them as well to keep ticking over.
“I enjoyed my loan spells with Fraserburgh a lot and I’m familiar with Mark and the boys.
“So it made sense to come back. If I get up to speed quickly, hopefully it benefits me and the club.
“Semi-finals are big games everyone wants to play in. It will be a hard against a good Huntly team who have quality that can hurt us.
“But the mentality at the Broch towards every game is that we need to be on it.
“I’ve been involved in games like this before and I’m looking forward to getting going and helping where I can.”
American experience
Former Peterhead man Lawrence had loan spells with Fraserburgh between 2015 and 2017.
In the summer of 2018, he moved to Campbellsville University in Kentucky and played alongside studying.
After graduating in 2020, he coached the university’s reserve side and latterly was teaching PE at a school in Kentucky.
Lawrence added: “It taught me a lot about looking after myself, nutrition, stretching, these sort of things.
“We had a good strength and conditioning coach who got the best out of me really quickly.
Marc Lawrence pens Bellslea contract https://t.co/HjVsslDNrZ
— Fraserburgh FC (@FraserburghFC) January 14, 2023
“I graduated in 2020 during Covid, but I got the chance to stay on the scholarship and do my masters while also coaching at the same time.
“I was in charge of the junior varsity squad, which was the reserves, and I’d around 60 boys that I was working with taking and organising training, sorting out buses and things like that.
“It was good for me in terms of a bit of independence and a lot of organisation.
“Being on the sidelines also let me see the game from a different angle and gave me a better understanding of the game.”
Murray hopes for final say
Meanwhile, Huntly’s Callum Murray is eager to set up a final clash with his former side.
Buckie Thistle await the winners of tonight’s tie, with winger Murray leaving his hometown club in the summer.
The 26-year-old said: “It’s another big game for the club – Huntly were in the semi-final of the Aberdeenshire Cup this season.
“It’s always a tough game against Fraserburgh, hopefully we can stick to the game plan and give them a good game.
“If we could get through it would mean a lot to everyone, especially after losing in the Shield final last year.
“I’m sure the lads that were here will be hurting and want to try to make up for that this year.
“Personally it would be great to play Buckie in the final, but all we’re focusing on at the moment is this game.”
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