Notman presents Juniors awards

Midfielder Steven Notman took time out of his recovery period to return to Shielfield on Friday evening, appearing at Berwick Rangers Juniors’ awards night at the Black and Gold.

In an evening that was thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended, the juniors named Tai Meakin as their new club captain, with Rhys Bloomfield taking on the responsibility of vice-captaincy.

On the evening, Steven admitted: “I really wasn’t expecting that many kids. There had to be close to a hundred in there – I thought that was brilliant.

“It’s been a pleasure to come down and hand out the awards. Hopefully some of the lads can one day come through to play for Berwick, and maybe even at a higher level.”

Berwick Juniors

Berwick Rangers Juniors class of 2015. Image courtesy of David Sanderson Photography.

After winning five Player of the Year awards himself despite missing the final third of the season with injury, the versatile midfielder is no stranger to silverware, however Stevie revealed that he’s yet to fully recover from the knee problem that kept him out of the back end of last season.

“I’m looking forward to getting back up and running again. At the moment it’s a little up in the air on a personal level. I’ve got a tear in my medial cartilage and a tear in my lateral cartilage, so I still need to ensure my body is ready to take on pre-season, but I can’t wait to get started again.

“It’ll be good to meet the new players. The likes of Kevin Walker and Michael McKenna look like exciting signings, and I’m sure the gaffer will be taking a look at a lot lads in training, seeing what they have to offer.”

Notman

Three of Berwick’s signed players for the 2015/2016 campaign celebrate a goal.

Despite a successful season on the park individually, Notman admits that as a team Berwick weren’t good enough last season.

“I can’t put my finger on what went wrong. You might say the cup run got in the way, but I wouldn’t use that as an excuse. The league table doesn’t lie – something must have been wrong.

“But we’ve got to put that behind us now. We have to make sure that we don’t let our form tail off so early. The aim has to be to win the league.

“It’s been understandably frustrating for fans as well as players over the last few years. We need to ensure that we’re at very least in the running come the business end of the season.”