Midfielder looking to continue Clachnacuddin resurgence in the Highland League as they prepare to face Forres Mechanics
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TROY Cooper believes Clachnacuddin will continue their good form into the second half of the Highland League campaign as they prepare to face Forres Mechanics on Saturday.
After a terrible start to the season when they failed to win their first 16 matches in the Highland League, they have only lost once in their last five and have achieved some impressive results.
Last Saturday, Clachnacuddin came from behind to rescue a point at third place Fraserburgh in a 2-2 draw at Bellslea.
The impressive result followed a run of five matches when they beat Keith 3-1 and hammered Wick Academy 8-0 as well as a 0-0 draw against Deveronvale in Banff.
Despite a second half blip against Turriff United, when they conceded five goals in a 5-1 defeat at the start of January, Cooper says their other performances have showed the potential of how good a team Clachnacuddin can be.
The 23-year-old says their impressive performances against one of the league's heavyweights last weekend was testament to that.
"The results speak for themselves," said Cooper.
"There are not many tougher places to go in the Highland League than Fraserburgh to get a point.
"Looking at the last few results, we beat Keith and got a draw against Deveronvale and we knew we were improving.
"Then before the Wick game, the manager said himself that one team was going to get a skelping off us.
"I didn't believe it would come that quick, but that was a great game to play in.
"Everyone can feel things are turning, it is a results business and even though it is always great to play football, when you are winning it is even better.
"It is always a better place to be around when you are winning and we feel that we are turning a corner."
Clachnacuddin are taking on a Forres Mechanics team low on confidence having failed to win their last three matches.
Their run included an 8-1 hammering by Buckie Thistle and then losing 2-0 to Deveronvale.
Cooper says while they will go into Saturday's clash at Grant Street Park confident, will not be underestimating the challenge posed from Forres, who they drew with 1-1 at Mosset Park earlier this season.
"When we played them at Forres earlier in the season we went 1-0 up, but in the second half they were peppering us for a while.
"They have struggled recently and I don't know what is going on there, but we are in a better place than we were.
"We have come off a good result last Saturday. which has given us confidence."
Cooper was promoted from the Clachnacuddin reserves team, which play in the North Caledonian League to the first team last season and has played a prominent part for the Lilywhites during this campaign.
Growing up in Merkinch, he also came through the youth system at Clachnacuddin.
He is proud to represent the club he grew up with and is looking for success with the team in the future.
"I feel this season I have become a better player and have been improving with every game," he said.
"The manager is targeting 12th place and if we can beat Forres it will go a lot towards achieving that.
"It is a reasonable expectation because with the group of players that we have, we should not be down there.
"We have good enough players to be finishing higher than where we are sitting right now."
