They may have a perfect record in the North-East Championship – but Gordonians captain Mayank Bhandari says there’s still room for improvement.
The Countesswells side are hoping to make it four wins out of four when they face city rivals Aberdeenshire at Mannofield tomorrow.
Despite their fine start to the season, skipper Bhandari reckons his charges can still get better.
He said: “Batting and fielding are still areas we can look to improve on.
“We have a few youngsters who still need to adapt to the standard of fielding required.
“But we’ve been working on it so it should come good.
“Batting is the big thing in the back of my mind. We know if we do well with the bat then bowling is our strong suit which can help us out.
“We won last week against Huntly, but it was a close game and the thing that concerned me was that we didn’t bat our 45 overs (bowled out for 142 in 38.1 overs).”
Shire looking to retain winning feeling
Meanwhile, Aberdeenshire’s stand-in captain Lewis Munro is hoping they can build momentum after last weekend’s three-wicket victory against Stoneywood-Dyce 2nds.
He added: “It was a good win last weekend. I thought we were pretty good in the field.
“It was a bit shaky with our batting, but Finlay Anderson came through for us and helped get us over the line and that’s what matters.
“It was good to see that we can come through tough situations and get results.
“Hopefully it helps foster a winning mentality among the team and hopefully we can keep it going.”
Huntly have able deputies as Stoneywood-Dyce look for first win
Elsewhere, Huntly travel to Forfar to play Strathmore. Captain Jack Mitchell is without a couple of top order stalwarts, but has confidence in the players being brought in from their second team.
He said: “Callum Whyte and Jordan Squire are missing. They are two top order players, but Lewis Petrie and Darren Morrison have scored runs in the second team and they’re getting a chance.
“They deserve their chance because they have performed well for the second team.”
Stoneywood-Dyce 2nds will hope to get their first win of the season when Kinloch travel to Peoples Park.
Cults defend perfect Grades record
Meanwhile, in the Aberdeenshire Grades Cults are sitting pretty at the top of Grade 1 after winning their first four games in the top division, leaving them the only club with a 100% record in the league.
There is, however, no chance of the Allan Park side getting carried away.
Captain Aqeel Azazi said: “We are excited by the start we have made to the season, but it would naive to take it for granted.
“Our game against Bon Accord this weekend will be a huge test of our resolve.
“Even with home advantage we know it will be a huge challenge, but we are looking forward to it.”
Bon Accord for their part have put behind them losing their opening game, and eased into fourth position behind Knight Riders and Aberdeen Grammar FP’s.
Knight Riders are quietly going about their business, the Hazlehead side will be strong favourites to beat Gordonians at Countesswells.
Aberdeen Grammar will want to put behind them the disappointment of losing out at the Links last weekend when the Bons deprived them of their 100% record.
But Grammar will find Inverurie in no mood to lose three games on the bounce.
Elsewhere in the division, Crescent are home to Siyapa, and Master Blasters Aberdeen are away to Grampian.
In Grade two, Fraserbugh and Mannofield, the only unbeaten sides in the division are home and away respectively to Portcullis and 2nd Knight Riders.
Deposed leaders Ellon Gordon will no doubt want to vent their spleen against Methlick after their heavy defeat at Mannofield last weekend.
