July 15th 2024
Ten-man Nairn County staged a remarkable late comeback to take all three points at Forres Mechanics. Chances were at a premium in the first half but Nairn had the better quality and quantity of the goal scoring opportunities that arose in the opening 45 minutes of play. Five minutes into the second half, Craig McGovern rose above goalkeeper Callum Donaldson to knock the ball into the Nairn net and give the home side the lead. Gregg Main was then harshly yellow carded on 58 minutes and received a red card for a second bookable offence two minutes later to leave County facing a seemingly impossible task to win the game. It seemed as if Forres had wrapped up the points when Duncan Jones rattled a low shot past Donaldson after the linesman had initially flagged to indicate the ball had gone out of play in the build up, prompting most of the Nairn players to stop in anticipation of being awarded a throw in. The linesman raised his flag again prior to County restarting the match from the centre spot to call over referee Morag Pirie and justice was served as the goal was disallowed. Despite their numerical disadvantage, Nairn looked dangerous going forward and Stuart Leslie drove a fierce effort through the legs of Forres goalkeeper Stuart Knight on 78 minutes to level the match. More drama followed four minutes later as Archie Macphee got his head to a pinpoint Adam Naismith cross from the right to glance the ball beyond the sizeable frame of Knight to win the game for Nairn and send the large travelling support delirious. Graeme Macleod
