Allan Hale is hoping to make Huntly successful again and is eyeing up a place in the Evening Express Aberdeenshire Cup semi-final ahead of tonight’s tie against Keith.
The Black and Golds travel to Kynoch Park in tonight’s quarter-final.
Huntly – who started Hale’s reign with a 1-0 defeat to Rothes on Saturday – haven’t won a trophy since the SFA North Region Challenge Cup in 2007, and Hale, a former manager of Keith, said: “It’s a big game and there’s a lot at stake because both sides haven’t had the luxury of being in the latter stages of cup competitions in recent years.
“Huntly were in a semi-final last year, but lost late on to Inverurie. This is a chance for both teams to lay down a marker and get to the semi-final of a cup competition early in the season.
“Both teams will be up for it with so much at stake. These are the games we want to be involved in with plenty at stake.
“Huntly is a massive club and they’re well backed and supported. You only need to look at their history to see they’ve been a very successful club in the past.
“We’ve come into the club and share the same ambition as the chairman and the board to get the club back up to the top region of the league and start competing regularly for trophies.
“That’s what we want to do and we’ve got a group of players that are hungry to achieve that as well.
“We want to be successful and we’ve got an opportunity to get ourselves into a semi-final early in the season so there’s a lot at stake.”
© DCT Media
Keith’s last silverware was the Highland League Cup in 2013 are also hoping to get back to competing for trophies.
And new manager Andy Roddie will also have the backing of a limited number of supporters inside Kynoch Park.
Roddie, a former Huntly manager, added: “We treat every game as it comes, this is going to be a very strange season with the 15 league games and a few cup games as well.
“We’re looking forward to the challenge anyway this season and it’s one we’ll use to gauge the squad and build up the squad for next season.
“Keith have got a great background in winning silverware, albeit a number of years ago now.
“That’s something we’re aiming for to try to bring those days back to Kynoch Park.
“It’s a boost to be able to play in front of fans. I think we all know the fans miss the game and certainly the players miss the fans as well.
“It gives the game more of an edge of players want to show what they can do in front of the fans.
“Sadly they haven’t had that chance for the last number of months, so it will be good to get some fans in.”
Help support quality local journalism … become a digital subscriber to the Evening Express
For as little as £5.99 a month you can access all of our content, including Premium articles.
Subscribe