January is a pivotal month in Gordonians’ season, according to club president Matthew Brechin.
The GoGos extended their lead at the top of National 3 to 11 points in the first round of games in 2023 thanks to a hard-fought 26-19 win at Allan Glen’s.
With two home matches next up against Whitecraigs and Strathmore, Brechin knows it is important the club makes the most of their home advantage.
He said: “January was a block we had marked as a crucial one. We were delighted to get off the mark with a good win to start the year and, with the next two matches at home, it is vital we build on that.
“We need to pick up as many points as we can this month, because February and March are stop-start months due to the Six Nations.
“There are breaks in play because of the international games and we want to go into that period in as strong a position as possible.”
Lessons to be learned from vital victory
Jim Greenwood’s side were pushed all the way on the way to their 12th win of the campaign by Allan Glen’s.
While Brechin expected a tough start to the second half of the season, he was thrilled to see the team dig deep to record a valuable victory.
The importance of the win became more significant when news came through nearest challengers West of Scotland had lost at home to Hillhead Jordanhill.
Brechin said: “Our mindset going into last weekend was that we knew we would be rusty as we hadn’t played in a month since beating West of Scotland.
“We’d had a couple of training sessions, mostly indoor, and we knew we would have to work for a result down there.
“It wasn’t the prettiest of games, which both teams agreed on afterwards, and we didn’t take some of the chances we created.
“But we knew they’d be a tough nut to crack. They don’t lose many points and one of the guys worked out that 20% of the points they have conceded in the league this season have been to us.
“That shows how difficult a game it was going to be, but we showed guts and determination to get a result.
“There was an element of we scored, they scored, about the game and we’ve worked on training this week at tightening up and making sure there is more variation so we can mix it up a bit in games.”
President on the comeback trail
For Brechin, last weekend’s win represented his return to the first-team squad – where he was one of the replacements.
The president was unsure whether to continue playing at the start of the campaign, but has been back taking an active role in recent months.
He said: “I’ve been getting back into it. I’ve been back training since November and played a couple of games for the twos.
“The routine of training Tuesday and Thursday, then having a game at the weekend was something I was enjoying, but I didn’t expect to be on the bench at the weekend.
“We had a couple of boys unavailable, though, and I was happy to help out.”
