Unsettled Huntly winger Robbie Foster earns praise from manager Colin Charlesworth after maintaining fine Highland League scoring run with winning strike against Brora Rangers
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Denied victory by a last-gasp goal from the Keith keeper in midweek, Huntly were back to winning ways on Saturday.
A deserved 1-0 success over one of the league’s top sides in Brora Rangers was just the tonic for manager Colin Charlesworth.
He was honest enough to admit that although his team was robbed of three points by a bizarre stoppage time equaliser on Wednesday, perhaps justice was done when Maroons number one Craig Reid hit the headlines with his bicycle kick stunner.
“We weren’t good enough on the night against Keith and had we won the game it would have been harsh on them,” he said.
“But what I’m noticing about this Huntly team is that they very rarely have two bad games in a row, and that was right enough on Saturday. We were really good and worthy of the three points.”
Transfer-listed winger Robbie Foster, whose fine solo effort on 88 minutes looked to have set up a Huntly victory over Keith, rewarded Charlesworth’s decision to start him against Brora by coming up with the winner.
Denied by a good save early on, Foster fired home a Callum Murray feed on 17 minutes for what proved to be the only goal of the contest.
“It was a good win and a good performance,” Charlesworth added. “I said to the boys after the game that it’s the type of wins that I’m learning to love when you’ve got to roll the sleeves up and fight, scrap and kick for everything.
“Brora are a good team and regardless of form and the up-and-down season that they’ve had, they still have some quality players in that team and you have to be at it and ready to go from the first whistle.
“You will get spells in the game when you are on top and when you do, you have to score against teams like Brora because you know they will come back at you. You have to be at your best for the full 90 minutes and we were for the full duration.”
Foster was made available for transfer by the club after failing to pen a contract extension, but Charlesworth said the player has since rejected moves elsewhere and focused on finishing the season in positive fashion.
“It’s one of them, when players aren’t sure what they are doing at the end of the season and they aren’t signing contracts, you maybe want to force their hand a little bit. But that hasn’t worked out with Robbie.
“He’s a good honest guy. He’s been speaking to us all the way, he’s knocked back a couple of offers from other teams because he’s not sure what will be going on in his personal life come the end of the season.
“We just have to bide our time and enjoy Robbie Foster while we’ve got him.
“I’ve got no complaints about him. When he wasn’t starting, his attitude has been bang on and when he has started he has given me a headache to not leave him out the next week.
“He comes off the bench against Keith and pops up with a goal, then he starts against Brora and comes up with a goal. When the chips were down against Forres he came up with a hat-trick. That’s what Robbie has a knack of doing and we are benefitting from it just now.”
Next up for Huntly is a quick rematch against Keith on Saturday.
Alex Thoirs’ dislocated shoulder and Ruari Fraser’s hamstring tear will keep both players out of the remaining three matches.
