RUGBY: Highland aim to cause upset away to the champions
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HIGHLAND will look to start 2024 by causing a big upset when they travel to champions Ayr in their National One clash on Saturday.
Ayr secured the title before the end of the winter break and cannot be caught as they are 24 points ahead of second place Melrose with only four matches remaining this season.
Highland have had a good season as they find themselves in third place, but 28 points behind Ayr who have won every game.
Only the champions are promoted to the Premiership, but despite promotion being out of reach Carson says they will look to claim second place with a strong finish to season.
“We will be training on Wednesday and Thursday before we head to Ayr on Saturday to make sure we get our prep done,” he said.
“We need to get back on the winning trail after running out of steam just before the break.”
Carson says it is a shame that there is only one promotion place available to the Premiership as he believes it will be a close run thing to decide who finishes in second place.
“Nobody can catch Ayr and it is a shame there is only one promotion place available as it would be a great fight to decide who would finish in second place.
“We want to improve year on year and we want to finish higher than last season.
“We are sitting in third place with a game against Melrose.
“But we have a tough run of games that are coming up.”
Highland have performed well in the league this season with eight wins and a draw from their 13 matches so far in the campaign, but Carson admits they will have to be at their best to end the season with a winning run.
“After going to Ayr, we then play away to GHK and then home to Gala and Ayr before we finish away to Glasgow Accies,” he said.
“We have some tough games coming up to finish of the season.
“We had injuries and players affected by work commitments before the break, so it will be good just to get back on that winning run again.
“Two years ago we beat Ayr and last year we lost in the last minute, so there are no fears facing them.”
Elsewhere on Saturday in National One, Biggar are scheduled to take on Gala and GHA face Glasgow Academicals.
