It would be fair to say that Inverurie Loco Works have been on a forward journey in the last few years and that journey has a new destination in the Angus region of Scotland this weekend.
Locos were a Junior side up until 2001 when their application to join The Scottish Highland Football League was successful. They built on that to win the Scottish Qualifying Cup in 2005 and 2006 before finishing runners-up in the Highland League in 2007.
The League Cup was picked up in 2008 and 2009 with the SFA Challenge Cup lifted in 2009 and that year also saw Locos paired with SPL side Motherwell at home in the Scottish Cup after reaching the Fourth Round of the competition.
After four postponements, the match was finally played and The Steelmen won 4-0 however, facing a full-time side at that stage of the competition was another sign of progress at Harlaw Park.
Locos will now travel to Links Park to face Montrose in their first ever Ramsdens Cup tie as a reward for their fourth place in the Highland League last season and their work under the SFA’s Club Licensing Programme.
One man who knows the positive steps Inverurie have made on and off the park is Co-Manager Kenny Coull, who was with them back during their Junior days.
Coull said: “I was first at the club as a teenager and spent seven years here before moving to Cove Rangers when Locos were in the Juniors and Cove were in the Highland League. I was there for five years and played in the Scottish Cup a few times with probably the most high profile game being against Gretna.
“I came back to Locos after they were admitted into the Highland league. Unfortunately, I never got to play against Motherwell in the Scottish Cup as I picked up an injury the week before and missed out.”
Coull added: “I am a striker and scored a few goals in my time and also played at Formartine United before coming back to Inverurie to be the joint Player/Manager with Scott Buchan who was a former team-mate.”
The relationship between the pair is a well balanced one with Coull adding: “We are both still players but we are hoping this season to concentrate on management only. We split everything down the middle and share our tasks as opposed to Scott doing one task and me doing another.
“We set up training together, talk to the players together and do all the transfers together so it is a real partnership.”
One thing the duo have not done together is spy on their Third Division opponents with Coull saying: “Scott went down and watched them recently whilst I took the side for a game. The game he saw confirmed that it will be a hard task for us to win in what will also be our first game of the season.”
Local knowledge has also proved valuable at Aberdeenshire Inverurie with Coull saying: “We know that Aberdeen have been sniffing about their striker Martin Boyle and that he has trained with them so he must be decent. The Montrose cup tie is a game that we have to be up for.
“We will be taking down a good few supporters and are looking forward to the challenge. It is a great opportunity to show our guys what fitness levels they need to have to progress in the game and also to see what competitive streak they have in them when they come up against a side who are favourites to beat them.”
The admission of Inverurie Loco Works to The Ramsdens Cup confirms that the forward looking club have continued their progress under their Co-Manager leadership with Coull saying: “We finished in tenth place in our first season then it was seventh and then last season it was fourth. That position and the work off the park got us into this competition and everyone here is delighted with that.
“It has generated a higher profile for Inverurie Locos and is the type of game this club wants to be involved in. The format is exciting as it has to be won on the day so we have to perform to get through. We arranged a friendly with Banks O’Dee to get some experience on an artificial pitch so we are doing all that we can to win through.”
There will be a couple of familiar faces making a return to Links Park with Coull saying: “We brought John Maitland here from Montrose a couple of years ago and he has been a big player for us. Kieran Adams is also with us and he was with Montrose before joining us a couple of years ago from Sunnybank Juniors. I am sure the two of them are looking forward to the game.”
Former Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Peterhead midfielder Graeme Stewart has just joined Inverurie from Buckie as another former Gable Endie in Inverurie’s ranks however, eyebrows were raised higher when Andrew Bagshaw was captured in the summer.
Bagshaw was tipped for greatness when he was a young Aberdeen player and starred for Scotland in the Sky Sports Victory Shield series of 2003. He outshone English opponents Micah Richards and Theo Walcott in that series of games however, he never made the breakthrough that was hotly anticipated at Pittodrie.
A move to Peterhead failed to bring the best out of Bagshaw and he moved on to Formartine in 2009 with Coull determined to now get the best out of the player as he said: “Andrew has just signed for us and you can see that he is a player. We will give him a good platform to play and he has had a good pre-season behind him so we may see him blossom at Inverurie.”
Midfielder Stuart McKay, who was once on the books of Peterhead, is another member of the Locos ranks to have SFL experience with Coull adding: “We are really looking forward to taking on Montrose. It is a bit of local derby as well when you consider some of our other cup ties in national competitions.
“We have just drawn Whitehill Welfare in the First Round of the Scottish Cup and that is a bit further away than a trip to Links Park.”
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