| Stilly takes managerial bow on his old stomping ground / Two absentees for Lossie |
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Keith boss Darren Still hopes to finally take charge of his side for the very first time having seen all of the schedule games since his appointment at Christmas time postponed due to the weather. The former Lossiemouth midfielder will return to Grant Park with the Maroons looking to get the win that could see Keith leap into the top half of the table, depending on other results. Still said: "As a squad, we are all looking forward to getting back on the go because it has been quite some time since we last played. Whether that will be a factor in the game or not, only time will tell. "The good thing is that Lossiemouth have been out of action for a similar length of time as we have so it doesn't look like there will be any advantages or disadvantages with the layoff. "I am under no illusions as to how difficult a game it will be and the guys will be made aware of that. It took us until the last minute to get a winner against them in the home fixture earlier in the season. That was a real tough game for us that day although admittedly, we didn't play too well. "I have recently been speaking to Gregg Carrol (Buckie manager) and they had back-to-back games with Lossie recently. He was full of praise for the way they played and how difficult they were to break down so I am fully aware that we are in for a tough game." Still has Dean Donaldson and Derek Nicol suspended as they finally serve their one-game bans having been sent off in the Maroons' last outing at Inverurie Locos away back at the start of December. Long term injury victim Neil Robertson is back training with the squad and now needs under-21s games under his belt to build up his match fitness before making a return to the first team. Iain Good and Gary Nicol are both still sidelined though. Both of these clubs have been out of action since the first Saturday in December when Keith drew at Inverurie Locos while Lossiemouth lost 1-0 at Buckie Thistle, their second single-goal lose to the Jags in as many weeks. Manager Charlie Charlesworth said: "We were all banging our heads last weekend with the game cancelled half an hour before leaving Lossie. I think at the time this game was the most likely to be played but it wasn't to be and the boys were really fed up at that point. "We welcome Keith and Darren for what will be his first game in charge, at last. We all know it was a good appointment and I suppose the most logical. We all wish him well and I am sure he will do well. "Keith are a very successful club and very difficult to play against and this weekend will be no different. I do feel we are much closer to the likes of Keith now. There was a time when I felt we were light years away from these teams but we narrowly lost 1-2 last year and earlier in the season we lost 1-0 in the 90th minute with 10 men and a few players missing so I am optimistic about our chances. "Both teams will be very rusty and I would say it would be tough to call based on that but we will be underdogs, that's for sure and they will be looking to impress the new gaffer. We simply need to play as well as we can, try to find the form we were showing two months ago and look to win the game. "The lads have worked very hard and they deserve a positive result for themselves. I want improvement in the second half of the season and try and jump up a couple of places in the league come the end of the season." Charlesworth will be without the services of Garry Macdonald because of an ankle injury and Nikki Smith as the striker is working. Mike McGregor is on loan at RAF Lossiemouth but Craig Pattullo is in line to make his Coasters debut having moved in the opposite direction in a similar deal. |
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