Sam Morrison returns to parent club Buckie Thistle from Clachnacuddin loan spell and Victoria Park manager Graeme Stewart challenges the former Ross County defender to sharpen up and get back in Jags team
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BUCKIE Thistle manager Graeme Stewart has challenged defender Sam Morrison to fight his way back into the team after more than a year out.
The 25-year-old centre back has returned to Jags after a spell on loan at Clach to help build up his fitness or the road to recovery from a broken ankle.
The former Ross County player also had a brief stint at North Caledonian League Loch Ness last season in an effort to get match time following his serious injury in pre-season last year.
Stewart sees Morrison as a key player in his squad but says he is some way off making the first team starting eleven.
“Sam needs to keep working hard because he’s probably not at the fitness levels we expect from him,” said the Jags boss.
“I’ve told him that we know how good he is. On his day he’s one of the best centre halves in the league but we have such a strong squad now all over that he kind of needs to be at the top of his game.
“Maybe four or five years ago when we didn’t have such a strong squad, we might have played players who weren’t as fit as we wanted them to be.
“Now the squad is full of professional athletes, if you like. These guys are doing three or four sessions a week and Sam has to get it into his head that he needs to get up to that level. He knows that, and he’s working on it and once he is, he’s going to be a massive asset to us.
“It’s just trying to get him over that hurdle, which will take a few weeks and these next two weeks will be important to him.”
With Buckie’s game at home to Brechin postponed last Saturday, and no game this weekend due to the Highland League fixture scheduling, Stewart feels Morrison will get some time to push himself harder.
Jags’ last outing was last Wednesday’s 3-1 league win at Rothes, where a Jack Murray double (Including a penalty) and a late Scott Adams clincher took Stewart’s men into top spot.
Saturday’s postponement allowed Formartine United and Huntly to climb above Buckie into the leading places in the league.
“We have given the guys some time off,” Stewart added. “We had a few injuries and boys with niggles. But we are also giving them a mini pre-season to do and we won’t go up to Buckie for a week to train, we will train locally and this will allow everyone to get a wee bit of a rest and for the ones who need the training they will get that.”
Jags don’t have a game until October 21 when they make the trip to Strathspey Thistle, before visiting Forres Mechanics in the Scottish Cup a week later.
