DEFIANT and determined Arbroath skipper Marc Petrie has warned Carlton his side are no longer the soft touch they were at the start of the Eastern Premiership campaign.
With the competition at the half-way stage, the Lochlands men head for the capital with the intention of making amends for the home-turf defeat by the same opponents on the opening day. And while Petrie is loathe to use the term "revenge mission," there is no doubt that his squad members will see the fixture in that light. He declared: "After losing the first couple of games, we are now extremely happy to have recovered to the extent we are in a challenging position. "We never lost our confidence and that self-belief has been underlined in subsequent matches. "We have played some good, consistent cricket over the past few weeks and are carrying a lot of momentum into this weekend. "We feel that the next two weeks will define our season. "Not only do we have Carlton and Grange in the league, we also have a Scottish Cup quarter final on Sunday. "We aren't thinking about revenge as such, it is more a case of continuing to prove we are capable of challenging for honours. "We were outplayed by Carlton at our place, but we have improved a lot since then and if we play at our best, it will take a lot to beat us." Arbroath are boosted by the return of Calvin Burnett in place of Elton Willemse, who is unavailable all weekend. In addition, Jack Waller has finished school and comes in to replace Craig Cameron." Veteran Carlton and former Scotland batsman Fraser Watts stated: "It's an important stage of the season for everyone. "Arbroath are always a tough team to beat and will be gunning for revenge, I'm sure. "We have a pretty much full strength side out so will be looking to repeat what we did at the start of the campaign." Having claimed the scalp of pacesetters Grange last week, Falkland now aim to inflict the same fate on champions Aberdeenshire at Mannofield. And Forfarshire, with Michael Leask back in the fold, will fancy their chances of taking the points off Heriot's at Broughty Ferry. Grange ought to get back on tracks when they square up to Watsonians at Myreside, while winless basement boys RH Corstorphine welcome Stoneywood-Dyce.
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