Following three successive home fixtures, City are back on the road again tomorrow afternoon looking to cement their position at the top of the Highland League table.

Despite a 3-0 victory against Lossiemouth last Saturday, Manager Andy Kirk is looking for an improvement on a flat second half which was a far cry from the excellent football played during the opening 45.

Tomorrow's opponents Strathspey Thistle have endured a difficult start to the season, having picked up just one point from their opening 7 fixtures and currently sit bottom of the Highland League.

The Jags ran Wick Academy close last weekend having led for much of the second half, however two goals for the Scorries late on saw them take the points.

TEAM NEWS
City will definitely be without Seth Patrick who is suspended following his red card against Lossiemouth last weekend. Jamie Bain is likely to miss out after sustaining a knee injury in the match however the Manager is hopeful that Hamish Thomson and Grady McGrath will be available and they will be assessed before the match.

MANAGERS COMMENTS
Looking back at last weekend's fixture against Lossiemouth, Manager Andy Kirk commented, "We spoke at length to the players after the game. We've had a tough schedule and the cup tie in midweek against Stirling was a hard one and we gave our all in that. We challenged the players before the game to see if we could get the match done by half time and to be fair to them, they did that."

"Overall the second half wasn't great. We started ok and should have had a penalty - if we had that then we probably would have kicked on a bit. The referees have a difficult job but I think everyone at the game, including their players couldn't deny it was a penalty. We lost a bit of our shape in the second half and perhaps a bit of tiredness and fatigue creeped in."

"Overall it was three goals, a clean sheet and we are top of the league - the first time we've been up there since I've come in."

Anthony McDonald opened his City account on his first competitive start with Andy adding, "Ant has not played a lot of football and we are trying to get him up to speed. Saturday was his first start for a while which is why we only gave him 45 minutes. He's got real quality and I'm sure he'll score and create a lot of goals for us. We are pleased he had a really positive half, he set up the first goal and scored the second."

Also netting his first City goal was Fraser MacLeod. Andy said, "Fraser has been great since he came in. He has lots of energy and has good quality on the ball. He surprises us week after week with some of the things he does and it was great for him to get a goal because he deserved it. He's capable of getting more goals for us throughout the season."

Looking ahead to the trip to Granton-On-Spey tomorrow, Andy said, "The second half against Lossiemouth wasn't what we'd like, so Saturday is a chance to get that out of our system. There can't be any complacency - we have to go out with all guns blazing."

ADMISSION INFORMATION
Admission prices at Seafield Park are £8 for adults, £4 for concessions (60+ and 12-15 years old) and supervised under 12's go free.

SUPPORTERS CLUB TRAVEL
Brechin City Supporters' Club are running a coach to the game which will leave St Ninian's Square at 10:30am. Limited seats remain so if you wish to travel please text 07740 856565 to book your seat. The cost of the bus is just £10 per person!

MATCH OFFICIALS
Tomorrow's match referee is Billy Baxter, assisted by John Nicolson and Jamie McCausland.

PREVIOUS MEETING
Strathspey Thistle 1-3 Brechin City - 19th March 2022
City earned all three points in the last meeting at Seafield Park however they were made to work for it against a battling Jags side. Ewan Loudon headed in an early opener for City, however they were pegged back by an equaliser from Ross Logan. City toiled, however Loudon grabbed his second just after the hour mark before David Cox sealed the win 14 minutes from time.