Fort William ‘won’t get carried away’ after long-awaited win

They have had congratulatory messages from Macedonia, Norway and various outposts of the United States, and their social media following has now eclipsed that of Scottish Premiership neighbours Ross County.

But Fort William's manager says the side dubbed Britain's worst team will not be getting carried away after ending their two-year winless run.

The Highland League side's record was so bad, they were the subject of a BBC Scotland documentary broadcast this week. But, on Wednesday, Fort beat Nairn County 5-2 in the North of Scotland Cup.

It was their first win since 2017 and manager Russell McMorran described this week as “nothing short of phenomenal”.

“It's been a long time building with the documentary, but for everything to be as timely, you couldn't have written it like that,” he added. “The win was always going to come, but this soon into the season has just made everything worthwhile.”

Fort William finished last season with a minus 224 goal difference, and ended up seven points adrift at the foot of the table after being penalised three times for fielding ineligible players. It was the 15th time in 21 seasons that they have ended the campaign last.

Off the pitch they have struggled too – last year its entire board resigned and they struggled with the decision to remain in the UK's most northern league.

McMorran, who stepped up from assistant in January, told BBC Scotland they will remain “firmly stuck on the ground”.

“Although it was a comfortable win and the guys all showed their class, grit, and determination, if we start saying that we're going to win the league it would be very naive of us.

“I plan to make sure these guys carrying on developing, growing as a team and finish off the bottom of league. It's in the guys' hands. Now they've broken that hoodoo, I think the guys will relax. You'll see a relaxed side, happy playing football. We'll just keep this going as long as we can.”

You can watch ‘The Fort', the story of Britain's worst football team, on the iPlayer.