Northboy

A neighbour of ours is a primary school teacher, usually the first year. She despairs when kids can read/write/count/etc when they start - much rather they didn't sh@t their pants.

Decent start and setting the scene well for the new series. The appearance of Oswald Mosely was intriguing.

Well done to Nairn for a great result on Saturday.

If you mean Tipping Point then yes, otherwise there are several candidates who might fit the description.

That’s coming as news to those of us who support Lossie and who are expecting Locos to steam into town on Saturday. Brora should have the legs to do the season without much fuss. They look like a right shower as well, which always helps. Yeah, just back from holiday and noticed Nairn County on Locos board as next home fixture and jumped to conclusion!!! I agree about Brora looking like favourites based on early form (no knowledge to say whether or not they are a shower).

There's an interesting set of fixtures this weekend with all 4 teams on 9 points facing each other. Locos welcome Nairn to Harlaw Park while Formartine are at Buckie. Big game for all these teams if they want to stay in touch with Brora and Fraserburgh.

Four games in and the league table has a familiar look. Brora, Fraserburgh and Formartine setting the early pace (although Formartine have lost one it was to Fraserburgh). Locos tucking in just off the leaders as usual. Despite the enthusiasm Fort William remain bottom and pointless.

Out of that squad of 16, at least 11 of them won European trophies at club level. I think Joe Jordano played in a European cup final with Leeds when they lost, along with Frank Gray, but Frank won European cup with Forest I think I'm pretty sure Andy Gray wasn't in the final squad.

I would say even although Buckie were down to 10 men for about an hour of the game you would not have noticed they were a man short, after getting an early pen & going ahead Locos never really imposed themselves on the game. The sending off was correct but Buckie looked as if they wanted it more. Thanks, that's pretty much how I heard it.

This must be the match ...

What did you make of the Locos performance? I couldn't make the game but from what I've heard Locos were poor and Buckie adapted well to playing with 10 men - was that right?

We're up and running so what do people make of the first weekend results? My 3 expected title challengers all had big scoring, clean sheet wins. Disappointing start from Locos especially playing 3/4 of the game against 10 men.

I fear I'd break my toes if I were to kick that ball!

That's a very good point.

I know nothing about matchday programmes but Westhill Amateurs are no more - folded at end of 2017/8 season I think. Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire amateurs generally don't get what we would call crowds. Mostly it's just team officials, subs, non playing squad members, hangers on and a few family and friends. If you throw in a couple of dog walkers and passers by then 40-50 people might be about the maximum (maybe more for key matches).

I flicked on to Family Brain Games on BBC2 last night and tolerated it for 10 minutes - what a bunch of smarmy c@#ts.

People who can't find their seats on a plane. I've been travelling with work recently and taken quite a few flights. I'm amazed by the number of people standing in the aisle looking lost and creating havoc at the same time. It's not complicated - an understanding of numeric and alphabetic order is all you need.

Although Buckie won the HFL only 3 years ago they've finished 7th and 8th in the past 2 seasons. They'd need to have a step up before next season of they were to seriously challenge.

You can apply the 'big oil club' tag to Formartine 'Rollstud' United but Locos have a wide range of corporate and community sponsors. In terms of fans Locos typically have 300 at home games which would be boosted by promotion although I don't expect that to happen.

Agreed, the Broch can beat anyone on their day but they have too many odd results (they tend to drop points against Locos too). I have them down as an outside chance but probably too inconsistent to really challenge.

Having finished second last season and with their financial backing Brora start as my favourites. Formartine have promised much since they joined the HFL but to date they haven't delivered but if they can hit consistent form they should be a strong challenger. Fraserburgh looked strong last season (only team to beat Cove in league) and if they can cut out the occasional poor result I think they could go close too. Outwith these 3 I don't see anyone else. It would be great to see Locos putting in a challenge - on our day we can match anyone but consistency is always our problem.

Cove have dominated the HFL in recent years but now that they have moved up to League 2 who are favourites to be HFL champions next season?

I did attend a few Cove games when the were playing at Harlaw and would have estimated the crowds between 200-300. Admittedly it was probably some of the 'bigger' games I went to. I saw very, very few Inverurie locals at any of the Cove 'home' games.

But that's exactly how it is in Orkney and Shetland. Both island groups have a number of amateur clubs playing in local summer competitions. The Orkney and Shetland teams are essentially a select of the best players in the amateur teams.

Published HFL attendance figures are difficult to find. Even more so in the case of Cove as they've ground sharing in recent years so any figures would not be realistic. Based on numbers announced at matches Inverurie Locos normally get around 300-350. I'd expect Cove to draw something similar, probably a bit more given the boost of a new stadium and SPFL football. League 2 attendances are in the range of 300-700 so Cove crowds would be in this range.