November 20th 2023
COMMENTING on the 2-1 extra time win, manager Ronnie Sharp said: "It was an incredible performance in extra time. I did not think that we played well for the first 90 minutes but we managed to find an equaliser in injury time." "We lost two players in the first three minutes of extra time and we had to show discipline and character to sit in and keep them at bay while looking to hit on the counter attack with Dylan Mackenzie as the lone striker. It was excellent character from the players and I cannot fault them for that." Mackenzie's equaliser was his third goal for the club with the young striker running the Deveronvale centre halves ragged with his energy and willingness to work. Sharp added: "Dylan changed the game when he came on. He grabbed us an equaliser and he won the penalty kick for the winner. You have to remember that he is still just a young boy in his first season of Highland League football but I thought that he was excellent when he came on." He added: "It was one of those performances that you will remember and I was delighted it with it, although we know we can do better during the 90 minutes." Sharp has very little time to prepare his squad for the quarter finals of the competition with only two days to finalise a game plan to confront Turriff United with on Saturday. He stated: "We will have three boys missing for Saturday now with the red cards tonight. But we will have a few back like Gary Kerr, Callum Ednie, Jack Maclean and Jamie Mackay, so we will have to reshuffle the pack but we would rather that than be out of the competition." "We are at home and it is a chance for other boys to step up. You saw tonight that Dylan Mackenzie stepped up and hopefully, other boys can do the same on Saturday. It will be tough though because Turriff are a good side and they beat us fairly comfortably earlier in the season." Graeme Macleod
