Peterhead full-back David Donald was a record breaker aged just 16 in the SPL and if there was a prize for being the most consistent and well thought of right back in the Third Division, Donald would be likely to achieve success again.
Donald made his senior football debut back on 15th May, 2004 for Aberdeen against Dundee at Pittodrie and at that time, he became the youngest ever Don to feature in a game aged just 16 years 6 months and 6 days.
Fraser Fyvie may have taken his record away two years ago before Jack Grimmer took it to a new low when he became Aberdeen’s youngest ever League player at the age of 16 years and two months in one of the four appearances he made before joining Fulham however, Donald remains proud of his note in his home town team’s history.
He said: “I joined Aberdeen when I left school and made my first team debut at the end of that season. It was a great experience as I grew up in Aberdeen and was a supporter of the club and to play for the first team was a great achievement.
“Steve Paterson was the Manager and although we got beat by Dundee that day, I enjoyed it. My only other first team game was as a substitute in the last game of the season against Celtic two years later.”
Another substitute made a high profile impact that day as John Stewart scored twice in the 2-2 draw at Pittodrie but unfortunately for Donald, he was never to feature in the Dons top team again.
He was released by Jimmy Calderwood at the end of season 2006/07 season and he said: “Unfortunately, it never worked out the way I wanted it to with Aberdeen. They had Michael Hart at right back and brought in Jackie McNamara as well and basically, they had too strong a defence for a youngster to break through.”
Former boss Paterson was on hand to keep him in the Scottish game with Donald saying: “Stevie took me to Peterhead for pre-season training that summer and I signed not long afterwards. It is a route quite a few Aberdeen players have done both on a permanent or loan basis.”
Peterhead is an attractive option for players that have not made the grade with the local SPL side with Donald observing: “There is no other full-time side that are close by and for a lot of guys, it is here or moving to the Highland League. A lot of players have come here on loan and then stayed like Scott Ross and Davie Ross.
“We used to train up at Peterhead one night a week but we are now in Aberdeen on a Tuesday and Thursday and that is really handy for a lot of the boys.”
Donald added: “I enjoyed my time at Aberdeen and was pleased that I did get to play for them even if it was just the twice but it was time to move on. I now work full-time laying floors in Aberdeen as well so I have quite a busy time of things.”
Donald had hoped when he joined Peterhead that he would be combining his new working career with a footballing career in the First Division as he explained: “When I first went to Balmoor, Peterhead were challenging for promotion out of the Second Division and were always in and around the Play-Offs.
“We were fifth in season 2007/08 but got there the following season only to lose to Airdrie in the Semi-Finals and it would be fair to say that the last couple of seasons have been really disappointing. We lost confidence as we went on a run of losing games and heads went down as a result and that made things worse.”
The Blue Toon dropped down into the Third Division last summer with Donald commenting: “To go down to the Third Division was really, really disappointing, in fact it was a shock.”
Donald is now on his fourth Manager at Balmoor as Paterson left in 2007 and was replaced by Neale Cooper who left office last March to be replaced by John Sheran. The former Highland League Championship winning Manager was relieved of his duties in October after his vastly recast squad failed to make a lightning start to the new campaign.
“There were huge expectations on us at the start of the season,” said Donald “but we lost a couple of games to start off. That old habit of lack of confidence kicked in again and it looked like we would have another disappointing season however, there are signs that things are picking up.”
That upturn can be put down to the introduction of Donald’s fourth Manager Jim McInally back in November with the now 24-year-old saying: “Jim has definitely made an impact and we are now a more confident side. That confidence has led to better performances and better results which can be seen by winning our last three games.”
In between the League wins over Elgin City, East Stirlingshire and Clyde, McInally’s men took on holders Celtic in the Scottish Cup and they did the SFL proud despite losing 3-0 in a game shown around the world live on Sky Sports.
Donald enjoyed his second meeting with the Parkhead side saying: “The Celtic game was great and it gave everyone at the club a lift. The exposure was something new to us all but we enjoyed it. Despite the result, we were on a high afterwards and whilst it was a very different occasion when we played East Stirling the following Saturday, we won.
“We then took that into the Clyde game and I am hoping that just as losing was a habit we got into, we can get into a winning one.”
There have been gentle whispers that perhaps the promotion push that was expected from the Peterhead squad earlier in the season may still emerge with Donald saying: “We have been doing recently what we should have been doing all season and that is winning games. We have to hope that we can do something in terms of promotion and we will try to do our best to keep winning and see where we end up.
“We have to also hope that the teams in the Play-Off places just now start dropping points. The boss said at the weekend that it is a long shot and I would agree with that but all we can do is keep winning as many games as possible between now and the end of the season.”
Peterhead will have the chance to take points off a Play-Off team this Saturday when they take on an in-form visiting Queen’s Park team with Donald commenting: “They are on a very good run just now and we know this will be a real test for us. It will be a real test for me as they usually play with very fast wingers but we have drawn with them twice so far this season, so there is no reason why our good run cannot continue.”
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