Banks o’ Dee co-manager Paul Lawson insists it is too early to be talking about title contenders for the Breedon Highland League championship.
Dee moved to within a point of leaders Brechin City with a 3-0 win against Inverurie Locos at Spain Park on Saturday.
With 19 points taken from their last seven league matches confidence is not in short supply at Dee but Lawson insists no-one at Spain Park is getting carried away.
Next up is a trip to Kynoch Park to face Keith tonight and Lawson said: “A month ago we were top for a week.
“It won’t be until March when more games have been played that we’ll get a truer picture.
“We’re all well aware Brora and Buckie have a lot of games to play but that can present issues in itself.
“We want to be in the mix but the challenge is to keep picking up points every week.
“If we can do that we’ll be in the mix when things become clearer in March and that is why we’re keeping our focus only on ourselves.
“We’re in a good place but there’s a long way to go and we’re looking no further than the next game.”
A late decision will be made on whether Garry Wood will be involved due to illness.
Keith playing catch-up as they look to move up the table
Only Brora (13) and Buckie (14) have played fewer games than the Maroons, who have played 16 matches, but the fixture list has left Craig Ewen with a difficult run against title hopefuls.
Keith have faced Fraserburgh and Formartine United in their previous two matches and will play Dee twice in the next three games either side of a match against Brora.
Ewen said: “We’ve played twice since the middle of December and we’ve only had one home game since the middle of November so we’re looking forward to a game.
“We’ve been training regularly but the postponements haven’t been ideal in terms of match sharpness.
“Dee are going well and have a chance to go top of the table but we’re looking to get points and improve our position too.
“We were difficult to beat earlier in the season against the leading teams and we’ll be aiming to get back to that.”
Formartine expecting a stern test at Rothes
It has been a stop-start opening to 2024 for Formartine United too but United boss Stuart Anderson is looking for his side to build on their 6-2 win against Keith in their last outing when they travel to Rothes.
Anderson, who will be without Jonny Crawford and Graeme Rodger due to work commitments, said: “Every game is difficult and Rothes have really good players.
“They are experienced, they’ve won silverware and we know they will be well prepared.
“It’s always tough when you go up there and I’m sure this one will be no different.”
Bobby Beckwith is in interim change at Rothes following Ross Jack’s departure from Mackessack Park earlier this month and is looking for progress in what will be his second game in charge.
Beckwith said: “We’ve been focused on the games since the manager left and we put in a decent performance in our 3-1 defeat at Brechin in our last game.
“The players have adapted well to what we’re asking them to do and we’ve worked on a few things since the Brechin game. Hopefully we can see further improvement against Formartine.”
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