Turriff United manager looking forward to being Brechin's first Highland League opponents
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Turriff United will be the first team to visit Glebe Park as Brechin City begin their first campaign in the Highland League.
United will travel to the Angus town on the opening day on Saturday, July 24, for what will be a historic match for the league.
Turriff manager Dean Donaldson is looking forward to the game and knows Brechin will be tough opponents as they will be looking to get straight back into League two.
Brechin were demoted to the Highland League after they lost the play-off to former Lowland League side Kelty Hearts.
In the past week, they have appointed a new manager in Andy Kirk, who was latterly managing the Hearts Women team, and brought in Craig Levein as a full-time advisor in preparation for the new Highland League campaign.
Donaldson said: "We are really looking forward to visiting a new ground for the Highland League in Brechin.
"Myself and the coaches have all said it should be a great place to visit. However, they will be looking to get straight back up to League Two, so we are fully aware of the task it's going to be to get the win.
"It will only be good to be part of a historic game like this if we can get something out of it. No-one wants to lose their first game of the season and we all want to get a good result to get us off to the best start in the league."
The match will also mark Donaldson's first competitive game in charge of Turriff after he took over in January.
He was appointed following the departure of Kris Hunter, whose last match saw The Haughs side defeated 13-1 by Fraserburgh at Bellslea Park.
The former Keith boss has signed a deal with United until 2024.
He said that the start of the tenure has been difficult with the coronavirus pandemic limiting what could be done on the pitch.
He added: "The first few months have been really tough. We have only managed the one session so far and analysing the squad has to be done now through pre-season and friendlies, to see what we need to add to the squad.
"Our pre-season is all sorted and the games should give the boys good competition ahead of our season starting up."
Turriff's pre-season schedule of matches begins on Wednesday, June 30 with a trip to junior team Maud, before they take on Culter at home on Saturday, July 3.
They will welcome Peterhead to The Haughs on Sunday, July 4 and will then travel to face Kirriemuir Thistle on Saturday, July 10.
Their final two games will be at home to Bridge of Don Thistle on Wednesday, July 14 and then away to Inverurie Locos on Saturday, July 17.
Since taking over Donaldson has signed striker Kyle Gordon from Locos in a deal that saw Robert Ward go to the Inverurie side.
The manager has also brought in goalkeeper David Dey from Keith.
Donaldson added: "Myself and the coaches are really looking forward to getting started now with pre-season starting this week.
"It is really good to get back to training, which has been a long time coming."
