Scott Lisle says it’s time for Formartine United to start firing in the Highland League.
The Pitmedden outfit return to league business with this evening’s trip to Turriff United after losing 3-0 to Northern Irish side Glenavon in the Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer Cup on Saturday.
Formartine hope to be one of the teams in contention to win the title come the business end of the campaign.
But defeats to Fraserburgh and Buckie Thistle have meant the start hasn’t been as positive as the men from North Lodge Park would have liked.
Striker Lisle is keen to find form in the league – starting at the Haughs tonight.
He said: “We want to get a good result to get back to winning ways in the league.
“That’s important for us, but Turriff will be a difficult game.
“We’ve had a couple of poor results in the league against Fraserburgh and Buckie and we need to bounce back.
“Apart from that we’ve done all right and we want to try to challenge for the league this season.
“Playing in the Challenge Cup was a nice break from the league and we had a couple of good results against Livingston and Peterhead.
“But now it’s back to the league and we’ve got to try to challenge for the league.”
Lisle joined Formartine in the summer from Strathspey Thistle and has made a positive start at his new club bagging eight goals already this term.
He believes he is improving at North Lodge, with training, playing and travelling alongside experienced goal-grabber Conor Gethins one of the reasons for that.
Lisle added: “So far it’s been good for me at Formartine and I’ve scored a few goals.
“At Strathspey it was different because a lot of the goals I scored were individual goals I worked hard for.
“But at Formartine most of them have been in the box and the ball has been falling for me.
“I’m playing alongside better players and more experienced players at Formartine which has helped me.
“The experienced players can pass on a lot and Conor Gethins has been great with me.
“He’s part of the car school we have coming from Inverness so I spend a lot of time with him.
“Gethins has been there, done that and scored loads of goals in the Highland League so he’s been able to give me a few tips.”
Turriff lost 2-0 to Wick Academy on Saturday, giving them four points from their first seven games.
Assistant manager Graeme Mathieson believes the young Haughs team is improving.
He hopes that can continue tonight and said: “Formartine have had a bit of an up-and-down start to the season, but they are still one of the top sides in the league. For us with a young team that is just starting off this season it’s going to be a really difficult game.
“But we keep saying to players that we need to stop making mistakes and try to improve every week.
“We’re looking for an improvement on the performance from Saturday and I wasn’t that disappointed with the performance.
“We hit the post and had a good penalty claim turned down. It was a game we could have won.
“We’re looking for improvement, but Formartine are a top team so it won’t be easy.”