Forres put contract rebel Pollock up for sale
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THE ball is in Alan Pollock's court after Forres Mechanics' goalscoring midfielder was placed on the transfer list by the Mosset Park club.
Pollock, who has netted 10 goals for the Cans this season, rejected a new contract offered to him by manager Charlie Rowley.
The player has now been made available for transfer but will continue to train and be part of the Forres squad.
He came off the bench during Saturday's 2-1 league win over Turriff United and has yet to attract any interest from other clubs.
Rowley said: "It can go one of two ways. We have offered him a contract, he hasn't signed that contract at the minute and there's not been any negotiations.
"The deal is on the table and it will remain there for the foreseeable. But because he hasn't signed it we have to look at the bigger picture and put him on the transfer list so that if he was looking to go, we would get some money for him which we could use to strengthen.
"He'll be treated like everyone else. As long as he is our player he'll train and be available for games in the coming weeks unless something happens in terms of the transfer."
Mechanics skipper Stuart Soane was their goal hero for the second weekend running, scoring twice in a hard-fought win against a battling young Turriff side.
Soane converted a superb Graham Fraser through ball on 10 minutes, but Turriff deservedly levelled through David Ross on 55 minutes.
Pollock came off the bench to set up the winner on 72 minutes with a free kick which Soane nodded home for his 14th goal of the campaign.
"There's a lot of pressure on his [Soane's] shoulders, not just being our main goalscorer but being captain and setting the standard for everybody to follow," Rowley said.
"But goals win games and you can rely on him to come up with the goods when needed and that proved to be the case on Saturday.
"As much as I felt he didn't play particularly well in the open play, whether that was down to us or himself, he had three chances in the game and two of them ended up in the back of the net."
Forres' season began with nine victories out of ten games, before a five-match winless streak saw them exit two cups and slip back in the league.
So back-to-back league successes over Huntly and Turriff have been satisfying for Rowley, who has drawn up an alternative game plan to get his team back to winning ways.
"Because we hadn't won in five we intentionally set up to be a bit more defensive at Huntly and we did the same on Saturday. As much as we are better offensive-wise and with our quality on the ball I felt defensively we have tightened up in the last two games.
"It's about getting a bit of confidence and momentum now by winning games and that fluidity and quality in the forward areas will come."
Forres host Buckie Thistle in a rearranged league game this weekend and can go joint-second if they win.
Defender Craig McGovern is still out with medial ligament damage while striker Lee Fraser had his cruciate operation last week to begin on his long road to recovery.
