The Highland football team hoping to be the UK's most northerly professional club

A part-time village football club is potentially one game away from joining Scotland's national professional leagues.

Highland League champions Brora Rangers FC is in a play-off against Edinburgh City for a place in League Two.

The teams drew 1-1 in the first leg in Brora and are now preparing for a final showdown in the capital on Saturday.

"It would be amazing to get into the second division - this is making history for Brora," said club director Mary Stewart, who grew on a street behind the team's Dudgeon Park ground.

If Brora Rangers win the play-off, they would become the most northerly team in UK professional football.

Brora, about 50 miles (80km) north of Inverness, is a community of about 1,200 people on the North Coast 500 tourist route.

In the 1900s, Brora was the first place north of Inverness to have electricity, leading its residents to nickname their home Electric City.

And it was the site of the UK's most northerly deep coal mine, before the last shafts closed in the 1970s.

The village football team was founded in 1879 and joined the Highland League in 1962.

The club has made Scottish footballing history in the past - including knocking Hearts out of the Scottish Cup with a 2-1 win in the second round of the competition in 2021.

It also competed for promotion to League Two in 2015, but narrowly lost out to Montrose.

Mary Stewart believes her beloved club is on the brink of joining the big leagues.

"We've had a lot of good times over the years, but this would top it all," she said.

"I think we've got the quality in the squad, we've got a fantastic management and coaching team."

She added: "It would be great to have all these new people come up and see what we've got to offer."

Residents of Brora said excitement was building ahead of the weekend's crunch match.

But life-long fan Struan Gunn was left with a painful reminder of last Saturday's 1-1 draw.

The 35-year-old broke a finger celebrating Brora Rangers' opening goal.

"I got a little bit excited and ended up having to go to hospital," said Gunn.

He said securing promotion would be a dream come true.

"It will bring in a lot of income and for younger people playing football it would be a stepping stone for them as well," he said.

"I watched Brora since I was tiny, and was going to games where we were losing five, six-nil, and now we're potentially going into the Scottish leagues."

Asked how he would celebrate a win over Edinburgh City, he said: "There will be tears."

Dr Nicky Lindsay, 69, who helps to run Brora Heritage Centre, said the whole village was caught up in the excitement.