December 5th 2023
THE under-20s failed to make the most of their first half pressure playing with the strong wind behind them at Elgin City as the hosts ran out comfortable winners to condemn Stuart Finnie’s side to a second North of Scotland League defeat in a row. The visitors had the ball in the net through Ciaran Young in the opening stages but his effort was chalked off by referee Darren Munro. County continued to be in the ascendancy throughout the first half but could not find a way through. But when Elgin had the blustery conditions behind them after the break, they netted four times when efforts from David Wilson and Scott Miller were followed by a late double from substitute Jake Thomson. Finnie said: “We were happy with how the first half went and I thought we were the better team, albeit we had the wind behind us but we kept the ball down, kept it moving and actually played some good stuff. But we are having the same problem as the first team in that a lot of our stuff in the final third is letting us down with us choosing the wrong pass or cross, holding on to the ball for too long and showing a lack of composure." “We had a good goal ruled out in the first couple of minutes as well which was harsh. We then played into the wind in the second half and that was always going to be hard but we kept trying to keep the ball down and playing out from the back. In our good moments though, our decision making was poor in the final third of the park.” He added: “They then started to get on top of us in the last half-an-hour and really did have us on the back foot for a lot of it but the four goals were completely preventable – set pieces and individual errors have cost us big time tonight. “We need the boys to take responsibility and stand up when we are under that kind of pressure. It is extremely annoying to have lost the last two goals in the last couple of minutes because it makes the score line look like it was a hiding when it was actually a tight game." “We just need to take the positives out of the first 60-70 minutes and move on but we cannot continue to make basic individual errors which are costing us goals.” Elgin City – McHale, Duncan, McDade, Ballam, Wilson, McGowan, Sopel, Scott, Loveland, Miller, Taylor. Subs: Thomson, Reynolds-Jones, Edwards, Davidson, Crichton. Nairn County – Wilkie, J. Maclean (Robertson 80), J. W. Maclean (McDermott 70), Munro, Davidson, Urquhart (Campbell 70), Payne, Cuthbert, Young (MacBean 60), McConaghy, McWilliams (Eadie 50). Subs unused: – Referee – Darren Munro. Graeme Macleod
