July 15th 2024
GREGG Main's last cup final appearance ended with a petulant kick to an opponent's head and a red card. Now, the only thing the County midfielder is desperate to strike is the winning goal against Brora Rangers on Saturday, writes Graeme Macleod. Main was sent off as Wick ran riot in the final of the North of Scotland Cup back in November. The 29-year-old kicked out at Academy striker Gary Weir after the two tussled and the Caithness side's front man ended up on the deck. The one-club man has the opportunity to go from cup final zero to cup final hero though as Nairn take on Brora Rangers at Grant Street Park for the right to lift the Highland League (Morganti) Cup and he can set a unique family double in the process. "It was very much frustration," he said, reflecting upon his dismissal against Wick. "We were 5-2 down and there were minutes to play. The red mist descended and it was stupidity on my part." Main's brother, Glenn, bagged one of the four goals when Nairn were last in the final of this competition as they dumped Fraserburgh 4-0. The younger sibling wants to hear his name mentioned in the same breath when County fans in the future look back at heroes of yesteryear who scored in cup-winning teams. He said: "The day we beat Fraserburgh in the final was the best time I have had in football. Everything went perfectly for us. I do not have many memories left from the night out afterwards but the game itself was brilliant and I set up our second goal." "My brother then scored for us as well, so I would love to score on Saturday although getting goals is not really a part of my game anymore. I have only managed to get one this season and I normally get two each year, so this would be the perfect time to score the second." Main thought he had blown his chance when he was again red carded, this time against Cove Rangers on March 16th. He revealed: "I thought I would receive a three-game ban, so I was worried that I would then miss all of the games leading up to the final and then be left out for the final. I was not best pleased with myself when I came home after the game and just sat in a huff!" Main put in one of his best performances of the season when County were victorious the last two the two finalists clashed back on January 2nd. He said: "We have to approach this game the same way we did when we played them up there – everyone has to do their job, stick to the task and work for each other. That was the key to it and we won the game, so we are going to have to do that again." "Maybe they took us for granted up there and they obviously now know we have it in us to beat them, so it is going to be even more difficult for us to win this game than it was to win the one in January. They have also had a wee bit of hiccup in the league, so they will be even more desperate to win this cup." Main felt County had it in them to take the North of Scotland Cup home in November until a defensive collapse put the final beyond them. He is desperate to avoid a repeat this weekend. He explained: "I thought we were playing good football from the off in that game and were the better of the two teams at the beginning of the match. But they took their chances and we never. That was all it was and a lot of it was down to luck more than anything." "It will be the same again on Saturday – we did not take our chances against Wick and we were punished. When we get chances on Saturday, we have to take them because Brora will definitely create chances because they are a good team. We did not do that on Saturday against Strathspey because if we had taken our chances in that game, we would have killed it in the first half. Hopefully, we can improve on that in the final." Graeme Macleod
