Delight for Huntly manager Allan Hale as his team make it back-to-back wins after seeing off Aberdeen in penalty shootout to progress to Aberdeenshire Cup semi-finals
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Allan Hale said he was delighted by Huntly's penalty shootout win over a talented young Aberdeen side to march on to another cup semi-final.
Keeper Euan Storrier was Huntly's hero with two spot kick saves on Tuesday night to send his team through in the Aberdeenshire Cup after a goalless 90 minutes at Christie Park.
With the Black and Golds picking up their first Highland League win of the season against Deveronvale on Saturday after a sticky start, Hale is pleased that his team's performances are finally gaining results.
"There’s never been any panic about the form," he said. "Performance-wise we’ve been playing well but just not getting the rub of the green.
"We trust the players and we know they are capable of putting wins together and the really pleasing thing about the last two games is 180 minutes played without conceding a goal, and defensively we’ve looked really solid.
"That’s always the foundation of a good team."
A first minute Gavin Elphinstone strike broke Huntly's league duck with a 1-0 home success over Vale, and the Strathbogie outfit built on that victory against the young Dons.
A 4-2 win on penalties earned Huntly a Shire Cup semi at Formartine United next Wednesday.
Confidence has been raised ahead of a difficult run of fixtures for Hale and his team.
The Formartine tie falls in between two league matches against title chasers Buckie Thistle and Fraserburgh, followed by a Scottish Cup trip to West of Scotland Premier League side Pollok.
"It was good getting that monkey off our back with the first league win," Hale said. "The longer that goes, the more scrutiny that’s placed upon it and they got that monkey off with a good, solid performance.
"We followed that up against an excellent Aberdeen team. I don’t think there’s a team in our league that’s going to move the ball as well as Aberdeen did yet we restricted them to very few clearcut opportunities.
"I can’t praise the players highly enough for how they have approached the last three games, because they were unfortunate to lose against Formartine before we got these two wins.
"The character we showed, the energy and performance levels and work-rate within the game, everything we needed to do they did really well. I’m delighted for them and it’s another semi-final for the club to look forward to.
"Now it’s Buckie, Fraserburgh and down at Pollok for the Scottish Cup with the semi-final in between so that’s four really tough games coming up, but games I’m sure the players are looking forward to playing in.
"There’s no pressure on us. We know Buckie and how many goals they score, same as Fraserburgh and that alone tells you the attacking threat that both teams possess.
"Both teams went on unbelievable runs last season and have started in the same manner.
"But if my players can put in a similar level of performance to what they’ve done, then we know that we’ve got the quality at the top end that can cause them problems.
"We won’t be expected to take anything from these four games coming up so the pressure is taken off the players as well."
It's no coincidence that Huntly have managed back-to-back wins and defensive clean sheets with experienced stopper Michael Clark back in the heart of their defence after a long spell out with a hamstring problem.
"Michael has been absolutely outstanding in these last two games. I was worried about him for the Aberdeen game when he’s only had two full weeks of training.
"But James Connelly got suspended so we had to throw him in a lot quicker than I would have liked, I would rather have eased him in because I know there’s some minor issues with the hamstring.
"Now it’s about wrapping him up in cotton wool ahead of Saturday. James is back so we will need to take opportunities to rest him again because of the amount of games we have coming up."
Huntly recently sold midfielder Greg Buchan to Highland League rivals Fraserburgh, and manager Hale is keen to recruit a replacement.
He pointed to other departures from the club in recent times and feels is squad isn't strong enough at the moment.
"Greg was not someone I wanted to lose but it was clear from his performances that his mind was drifting elsewhere, based on the interest he was attracting from other clubs in the summer and the fact that he was out of contract next summer.
"We’ve taken in a fee which makes good business sense.
"We are light now, there’s no doubt about that. We’ve lost Reece McKeown (to Turriff) as well as Greg and (goalkeeper) Keith Robertshaw, and with Cameron Heslop moving on to Canada with his uni placement for three months that’s four players we’ve lost.
"Squad-wise we are as light as we’ve been for players since I came to the club, so we need to address that. There’s not a huge budget available to us but we will work away in the background and see what we can do.
"I think we need someone in defensively, it just takes one injury and its backs to the wall.
"In midfield as well we probably need another one in. It's a difficult market at the minute,the market is saturated and the players that we can attract with our wage structure, it’s not the easiest."
