RUGBY - Highland relishing tester in Aberdeen

Head coach Dave Carson has assured the Canal Park faithful there will be no letting up in Highland’s drive for points, improvement and high placings in National League One after last weekend’s disappointment.

A thrilling contest with Melrose ended in narrow defeat and effectively ended promotion hopes for the upwardly-mobile Inverness club.

While it was a big setback, the quality on show singled out the 36-30 defeat as one of the finest performances by Highland since reaching National One level.

With a squad brimming with young talent and potential, Carson will refocus efforts on improving individuals and the team collective in coming weeks and months, starting with derby action this weekend away to Aberdeen Grammar.

“We had a lot of young boys in the team again on Saturday and we’ll just keep looking at these guys coming up and blood them when they deserve a chance,” Carson said. “We’ll aim to keep building a secure base for our club for the future. We’re in a great place. Yet again, we had 64 senior players out there playing rugby on Saturday.

“Our next three games are away and the Aberdeen Grammar trip, which is rearranged after originally coinciding with the Queen’s funeral, is a local derby so that’s a nice way to bounce back after a defeat at home against Melrose.

“We’ll not need any encouragement to really have a go down there and try to pick some points up.

“We’re aiming to keep ourselves in the middle to top area of the league and, it goes without a saying, finish as high as we can in the table.”

Reflecting on the Melrose thriller, Carson added: “It was probably the best first half of rugby we’ve produced, and I couldn’t get my head around us being behind. If we replicate those standards, we’ll be okay. We’ll still go out to win every game we play and we’ll keep working to improve how our players play the game.”

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