14-07-2025
Mark Nicolson enjoying Brora Rangers' Premier Sports Cup campaign as he reveals it could be his last season
Mark Nicolson is determined to savour Brora Rangers' Premier Sports Cup campaign because he is almost certain this will be his last season.
The Breedon Highland League champions take on League One side Kelty Hearts on Tuesday night at Dudgeon Park after starting their section with a 2-0 home loss to Kilmarnock on Saturday.
This is defender Nicolson's ninth season with Brora Rangers, and the 37-year-old, who spent a decade with Elgin City earlier in his career, revealed this may be his final season.
He said: 'It's good to be involved in the League Cup. Sometimes you maybe take these sort of games for granted and I've been fortunate to play in these type of games a fair bit during my career, and you've got to enjoy them.
'This is my ninth season at Brora. I'm getting on a bit and I'm 95% sure this will be my last season before retiring.
'I want to make the most of it and enjoy every minute, because I'm pretty certain this will be it for me.'
This is the third time Brora have competed in the League Cup group stage.
The Cattachs have yet to win a game – although they did record two draws in 2020, but lost the subsequent penalty shoot-outs for a bonus point.
Nicolson is hopeful Brora can pick up that maiden victory and believes the clash with Kelty provides a decent opportunity to do that.
He added: 'We don't have a particularly great record in the competition, but hopefully we can get that first win.
'This game against Kelty and East Fife next week are two teams we feel we can match, so I don't see why we can't win those games.
'We've got good players in our squad who could play at a higher level and hopefully we can show that.
'We're a confident team and we're comfortable playing anyone at home.
'I'm hopeful the Kelty game will be more even.
'We know they're a good side with some really good players, but we feel we're closer to them in terms of ability than we were compared with Kilmarnock.
'Kelty are part-time like us and hopefully we should have more of the ball and be able to create a few more chances than we did on Saturday.
'We won't underestimate Kelty, but we're confident in our ability playing at home.'
Brora are set to welcome back James Wallace and Alex Cooper for the game against Kelty, while they have also secured winger Max Ewan on a new contract until the summer of 2028.
The 24-year-old joined the Cattachs from Nairn County in August 2021 and has helped them win the Highland League, three R Davidson (Banchory) Highland League Cups and two North of Scotland Cups.
Meanwhile, the Highland League's other Premier Sports Cup representative, Brechin City, are also in action on Tuesday night.
The Hedgemen take on Championship outfit Queen's Park at Lesser Hampden.
Brechin were beaten 7-0 by Falkirk in their opening League Cup fixture on Saturday, while Queen's Park lost 2-1 against Spartans.
