December 5th 2023
GOALKEEPER Calum Antell has identified the two main danger men he thinks are most likely to prevent Nairn County from lifting the North of Scotland Cup on Saturday, writes Graeme Macleod. The stopper will make his 50th appearance for the club this weekend but is still waiting for his first win against opponents Wick Academy having kept goal in two draws with the Scorries at Station Park and three defeats at Harmsworth Park. He reckons keeping quiet two of the Caithness club's players who have impressed him the most could hold the key for County this weekend. The Welshman said: "The boy Chucky (Gary Weir) up top and Sam Mackay the midfielder have both caused us problems every time we have played them. Wick seem to raise their game every time they play us and we will definitely need to keep an eye on those two but we have put three or four good results together now going into the final, so I am confident that we can pull off a result." The 23-year-old is desperate to start his medal collection having been with the club for just over a year. He revealed: "It is going to be the first cup final of my career, so I am looking forward to it. It is going to be a big occasion and my parents are coming up from Wales for it as well, which will be nice." "I am looking forward to it and hopefully we can get the right result. They beat us in the league and they have had the better of us every time we have played them since I have been at Nairn but hopefully we can get the better of them this time and beat them in a cup final." Antell has established himself as the club's first-choice goalkeeper since joining from Queen of the South in October 2014 and is now building a reputation for himself as one of best up-and-coming shot stoppers in the north. Reflecting on his time with the club so far, he said: "It has been really positive. We have been very stop / start since I have been here but hopefully we can kick on during the second half of the season. If we can win the cup final on Saturday it could really boost our season and we should be a lot higher in the league than what we are because we have a good squad. Hopefully, throughout the second half of the season, we can kick on." He added: "I have been very impressed with the standard of the league, especially the teams in the top half and I would say all of the teams in the top eight are capable of taking points off one another. I did not know a lot about it before I came up but I have played against every team now and I have been really impressed." County ensured that they go into Saturday's final unbeaten since their last meeting with Wick as they battled their way to a 1-1 draw at Inverurie Locos on Saturday. Antell added: "It was very even and there was not a lot in the game. Both teams were scrappy and there were a lot of long balls with not many players able to get the ball on the deck and start playing. It was a good point for us to come away with because it is a hard place to go. Both goals came from set pieces, which summed the game up but hopefully we can move on from that this weekend and win the final." Graeme Macleod
