Gauld chasing Locos record in Aberdeenshire Cup game with Deveronvale

When Neil Gauld steps out for Inverurie Locos against Deveronvale tonight in the Aberdeenshire Cup quarter-final, he will be chasing a club record.

The striker has netted 12 goals in his last five matches and is looking to equal a record he holds jointly with Martin Bavidge of netting in six consecutive matches for the Locos.

Gauld, who returned to Harlaw Park in the summer from Formartine United, is also just seven goals shy of becoming the first player to score 200 goals for Inverurie since they joined the senior ranks in 2001.

The Garioch talisman is excited by the prospect of equalling the record and reaching 200 goals.

He said: “Every game with the form I’m in I feel as though I should be scoring or I will score, so I’m definitely going for that record and as many as I can this season.

“I’m sure I’ll get to the 200 this year and that’s another nice record. I’ve been full of confidence and everything that has been coming towards me I’ve been putting in the net.”

In Gauld’s way tonight will be a Deveronvale side who have started the season in decent form, taking seven points from eight games. And the striker does not expect an easy path to the semi-finals at Princess Royal Park.

He added: “They’ve put last year behind them and only lost 3-2 to Brora on Saturday, so they must have played well.

“They’ve scored quite a lot of goals and had a few good results, so it will be a tough game for us.

“We’ll need all our squad. It’s tough going away on a Wednesday night and people getting away from their work on time. It will be a difficult game but we look forward to it.”

Banff boss Steve Dolan has been encouraged by the early-season displays of his side.

He said: “Performances have been good this season, we would have liked a couple more points.

“Locos have picked up in recent weeks and are scoring a lot of goals so I imagine it will be a pretty open game.

“We’ll go out and play our game and hopefully it will be enough to win.

“In the last few years our cup record has been pretty poor so we want to try to reverse that and get into a semi-final.

“They’ll probably start as favourites because they have a bit more experience than that. But we’ll go and take the game to them and see what happens.

“We are playing well enough, so we’ve got every chance.”