Alness United aim to cause cup shock at Thurso
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ALNESS United manager Robert MacCormack says his team are capable of causing an upset at Thurso in the North Caledonian Cup.
The Division Two outfit will be travelling up to Caithness to take on the Division One club at The Dammies in the first round tomorrow.
The league has split into two divisions for one season only as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Thurso are in Division One after finishing in the top six last season while Alness United are in Division Two after returning to the league after taking a season out.
Despite taking on top flight opposition, MacCormack says the incentive to win remains the same.
“It will be another challenging game for us, “ he said.
“Thurso are always a good side, but if we do what we know we can do, we can go up there and get a good result.
“We have a big incentive to beat everybody, regardless of who we play.”
Alness United have picked up seven out of nine points so far in North Caledonian League Division Two and they are considered by many as favourites to win the league.
But MacCormack says success in the North Caledonian Cup is just as important to them.
“Obviously we want to win the division that we have been put in,” he said.
“But we also want to have a go at teams who are in the first division.
“We want to have a good go at it, but we have been given a tricky draw away to Thurso.
“But we have to play everybody and if we get a good result it means we can get a go at another team who play in the first division.”
MacCormack was unhappy with Alness United’s 1–1 draw with Loch Ness in last week’s Division Two clash saying players fell short of his expectations.
He is expecting a reaction from his squad when they head to west Caithness tomorrow.
“Last Saturday was a really disappointing result for us and it is something that we have to put right this weekend,” he said.
“We didn’t play anywhere near as we can play, albeit we were up against better opposition than we’ve faced.
“But we didn’t do things that we usually do well.
“We were sloppy and credit to Loch Ness they turned up with a game plan and were probably delighted that they got a point.
“But we were not so happy with the result but I guess that happens in football sometimes.”
