He’s reminded of Inverurie Locos’ successful sides on a regular basis and captain Greg Mitchell is determined to bring silverware back to Harlaw Park.
The GPH Builders Merchants Highland League Cup is up for grabs this afternoon when the Railwaymen take on Banks o’ Dee at Fraserburgh’s Bellslea.
Since joining the Breedon Highland League in 2001, Inverurie have won the Highland League Cup twice, the Morrison Motors (Turriff) Aberdeenshire Shield three times, the old Qualifying Cup twice and the short-lived SFA North Region Challenge Cup once.
Just two of those successes – Shield triumphs in 2013-14 and 2016-17 – have been during Mitchell’s 10 years with Locos.
The 27-year-old defender is eager to get his hands on a trophy again.
Skipper Mitchell said: “You go in the social club and the photos are up of the teams of the past winning trophies, we want to join them.
“Every weekend when you’re in the social club after the game ex-players are there and they speak about winning trophies and medals.
“That’s the thing you always hear and that’s what football is about trying to win medals.
“Over the past couple of years when you look at it we’ve gone through a transitional period.
“We’ve got an opportunity as a group to kick on and make names for ourselves.
“There’s no better feeling than winning a trophy and it would mean the world to me if we could do it being from Inverurie, having been with the club for so long and being captain.
“There’s a buzz about the club in the town, I’ve had people coming up to me in the last couple of weeks asking about it and saying ‘I’m looking forward to the final.’
“We’ve got a few buses coming to the final so we’ll have good support behind us and it’s up to us to win the game.”
Dee seeking fairytale finish
Banks o’ Dee are aiming to win the Highland League Cup at their first attempt, which Jack Henderson feels would be a huge achievement.
The Aberdeen side were prolific winners as a Junior club before their promotion to the Highland League last summer.
Last season Dee won the Evening Express Aberdeenshire Cup and the Aberdeenshire Shield for the first time in their history, but striker Henderson believes victory today would top that double.
The 28-year-old added: “It would be huge for the club. We had the success last season winning the Aberdeenshire Cup and Aberdeenshire Shield.
“But I think this would be a step above that, in our first season in the Highland League to win this cup would be a huge thing.
“A lot of players haven’t won it before and for us to do it would be massive, hopefully we’ll manage to make it happen.
“We’ve been through occasions like this before and we’ll treat it as we have every other final.”
Dee’s league campaign was hampered by a 24-point deduction in October for fielding an ineligible player.
Despite that Henderson believes they have acquitted themselves well this term as they aim to put a silver lining on their season.
He said: “It was a massive change coming into the Highland League from the Juniors and we couldn’t have the expectations too high.
“We knew what we’re capable of but there’s been the challenge of trying to churn out results week after week which isn’t easy.”
