Keith's Craig Ewen on his hopes for TWO Aberdeen FC loanees during Highland League stint
The 17-year-olds have joined the Maroons on season-long loans from the Dons to gain experience of adult football.
Keith began the 2025-26 campaign with a 3-1 Breedon Highland League loss against Strathspey Thistle on Saturday – winger Searle started that fixture, while central midfielder To was introduced as a substitute.
Kynoch Park boss Ewen reckons the teenagers have bright futures in the game.
He said: 'Zak and Jack have done really well for Aberdeen in their pre-season friendlies.
'Jack's an attacking winger who can play on either side. He's a good size and a powerful runner and I think he can do well for us.
'Zak's also been doing really well and he was brought into Aberdeen's first-team squad for the friendly against Cove and played some minutes in that game.
'Technically, he's at a very high level.
'Both of them will add a lot to our squad.
'We haven't seen too much of them because of their involvement in friendlies with Aberdeen, but now we're getting them integrated into our squad and hopefully they can do really well for us.
'They're at a stage in their development where they need to be playing adult football regularly and I think they'll handle playing in the Highland League no problem.'
In recent years, Keith have done well when taking players on loan from Aberdeen.
During the 2021-22 season, Finn Yeats impressed during a spell with the Maroons, and although he left the Dons at the end of that campaign, he subsequently moved to Falkirk.
Then, last term, Cammy Wilson was also farmed out to Keith – and he's been linked with moves to England this summer.
He added: 'We've had a decent relationship with Aberdeen over the last few years.
'Finn Yeats came in and did well before going on and getting a move to Falkirk, and Cammy Wilson came in last season and also did well.
'The guys we've had have done well for us so hopefully it's a relationship we can continue.'
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