July 15th 2024
MIDFIELDER Ewen Urquhart has become Nairn County's third signing of the summer. The 25-year-old has penned a contract which keeps him at Station Park until the summer of 2020. Urquhart most recently played with Inverness City for a short spell last season before a stint in the Inverness Amateur League after returning to the area from living in New York. His father, Billy, played in the Highland League with Inverness Caledonian with distinction as a centre forward during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s and also spent time with Rangers and Wigan Athletic during his playing career. County's latest recruit joined his new team mates for the start of pre-season training on Saturday morning along with fellow new boys, Adam Porritt and Adam Naismith and he said: "It is good to make the step up from the junior league and I am looking forward to getting going with the season." "I have played with a few of the players here before and I am pally with a few of the others. It will be good to get back to playing with them again. I know Callum Maclean and I was at Caley Thistle with Kenny McKenzie, where he played left back and I played in front of him. I know a few of the others from playing against them down through the years as well." He added: "I want to get a good pre-season in me to get fully fit. It has been a couple of seasons since I would say that I have been fully match fit, so I want to do that first then try to work my way into the team. It is my first real, proper go at Highland League football, so hopefully I will settle in nicely." The midfielder has experience from playing locally and during his spell studying at university in Edinburgh, too. He revealed: "I first went to Inverness City three seasons ago and did a year-and-a-half there. I worked away in New York for a year and then I came back and did about half-a-season back at City last season." "Before I played with Inverness City the first time around, I was down in Edinburgh and played for Heriot-Watt University in the East of Scotland League." "I enjoyed my time at City and there is a good bunch of boys there. It is a good standard in the Super League and you look at teams like Banks O'Dee, who have beaten Highland League teams like Huntly recent seasons. It is not a bad standard at all, although there are teams who are not so good at the bottom of the league but the Highland League has that sort of range as well." "They have a new manager coming in at Inverness City now and hopefully they have a better season this year. I wish them well." County boss Ronnie Sharp said: "Ewen looks a very good player and he is good with both feet. He has played a bit with Inverness City, so it is a step up for him." "Michael Rae has worked with him before, so Mikie knows him well and hopefully he will take to the Highland League." "From what I have seen of him, he looks a very good footballer and those are the main qualities we are looking for from all of the players we have here. He is very composed on the ball, he is not afraid to use either foot and overall, he just looks comfortable as a footballer." "We will find out during pre-season where his strongest position is. We are not going to pigeonhole him into one position at this stage but we will have a look throughout the pre-season training and games where we think we will get the most out of him." Graeme Macleod
