Inverurie Locos boss Dean Donaldson has hailed youngsters Callum Duncan and Blair Smith as the future of the club after they extended their contracts.
Midfielders Duncan (18) and Smith (17) have penned deals to keep them with the Railwaymen until the summer of 2027.
Donaldson said: “Both Blair and Callum have got so much potential and it’s up to me to get that out of them.
“It’s important we look after them, sometimes you can overuse young players and it’s my job to look after them.
“Going forward they are going to have big futures with Inverurie Locos.
“Yes we’ll need some experienced players in our team, but I make no bones about it that we’re going to go with youth because I want loads of energy in the team.
“For Blair, Callum and other boys the opportunity is there for them.”
In-form sides clash
Inverurie were scheduled to face Lossiemouth in the Breedon Highland League at Grant Park this evening, but it was postponed last night due to frost.
The Coasters have won four of their last five fixtures, but after conceding three goals in defeat to Deveronvale and the same in victory against Clach, manager Frank McGettrick says there’s still scope for improvement.
On Saturday Lossie are at home to Fraserburgh and McGettrick said: “We need to try to tighten up at the back again because we’ve conceded six goals in our last two games which isn’t good enough.
“Before that we won three in a row with three clean sheets and I feel if we can stop teams scoring we’ll keep picking up points.
“I’ve been happy with how we’re playing, but we can’t be losing three goals regularly and expecting to win games.
“There’s a lot of positivity to take out of our recent run, but I feel we need to keep improving.”
Watch: Highland League Weekly – Banks o’ Dee v Strathspey Thistle highlights
