Inverurie Locos captain Greg Mitchell is keen to show they can compete with the sides at the top of the Breedon Highland League.
The Railwaymen take on Brechin City in a 2pm kick-off at Glebe Park this afternoon.
Locos are sixth in the table, 23 points behind the Hedgemen, who are second.
Skipper Mitchell, 27, said: “We would rather be higher than we are at the moment.
“But on performances we deserve to be there, but we need to show that we’re better than we have been.
“It’s going to be a good test for us and we’ll see where we’re at.
“We’ve got to show we can compete against the top teams, I firmly believe we can, but talk’s cheap we need to show it on the park.
“But it will be a tough game, it’s clear to see how well Brechin are doing at the moment.”
Brechin have yet to lose in the Highland League this term.
But manager Andy Kirk felt last weekend’s 0-0 draw with Nairn County was argubly their poorest display of the campaign and is looking for better.
He said: “One thing we take from that and use as motivation this weekend is can we get our level of performance a lot higher than what it was.
“It was one of the poorest, if not our worst, of the season. But you look for positives and we came away with a clean sheet and another point to keep the run going.
“The players know they need to do better if they are to continue to push and compete for the title at the end of the season.”
