Alness United’s final game of the North Caledonian League season is the dawn of a new era as they prepare to host Halkirk United.
The Ross-Shire outfit will play their first game at their new artificial pitch, close to their current Dalmore Park on the site of the old Alness Academy building.
Although Alness go into the game on the back of nine straight defeats, manager Robert MacCormack hopes closing the campaign at their fresh new facility can inject optimism for the future.
MacCormack said: “With our new pitch, there is definitely a lot to look forward to. The facilities are absolutely fantastic, it’s brilliant for the community.
“There are two floodlit pitches, with one predominantly for Alness United and the other is for community use.
“It’s brilliant for the club to have a pitch ready to go at any time we want.
“It’s fantastic for all the youths, they will all use it from primary school all the way up to the first team.
“For a town like Alness to have a facility like that is fantastic and we are delighted with it.”
Step in right direction for SFA licence
The new facility is a boost to Alness’ hopes of achieving a Scottish FA licence required for elevation from the North Caledonian League in future.
Only Golspie Sutherland are licenced at present, meaning champions Invergordon will not participate in the play-offs for promotion to the Highland League.
Although MacCormack says his side have a long way to go, he feels the new surroundings can only help their future prospects.
He added: “It’s a bit away for us yet. We just want to try and establish ourselves in the league and get some consistency in the league over the next two or three years.
“Everybody is thinking about it now. It’s only Golspie right now who could potentially go up, but I have spoken to a lot of other clubs in the league and there’s definitely a drive there.
“Some clubs are looking to do it quicker than others, but it’s an incentive for everybody.”
The ambition for the final game of the League
This weekend’s game is the only remaining fixture in the North Caledonian League calendar, with Halkirk looking for a victory which would see them leapfrog Golspie into third place.
Alness, who are 10th, could also move up the table, with a victory by two or more goals enough to overtake Inverness Athletic.
MacCormack aims to finish a difficult campaign on a high.
He added: “It has not been the season we hoped for or expected. It has been disappointing for us to be honest.
“We want to see how high we can finish, and we can still climb one place if we can get the win.
“The objective is to finish as high up the league as we possibly can.
“Hopefully we can get some guys in, keep a lot of guys that we have had this season, and go for it again.
“One way or another this season hasn’t worked out, but we are hoping to get a fresh start next season and get going again.
“We will hope to get a good crowd, and hopefully finish off quite a disappointing season with three points which would be a good finish to the league.”