November 20th 2023
SET pieces saw the under-20s undone at Forres Thistle with four similar goals giving the Jags a comfortable half-time lead. But Stuart Finnie’s charges battled back after the break and struck three times themselves to reduce the arrears to just one. Coach Stuart Finnie said: “We take massive positives from the second half – we defended well, had a good shape and were clinical. The boys who came on at half-time had a chance to see how Forres played and put that into good effect. If was night and day compared to the first half and it was not like Forres dropped off it – we just got much better and our goalkeeper looked much better with a more confident back four in front of him.” He added: “The first half was a steep learning curve. We could not keep the ball well enough and need to be much braver defending set plays and crosses as they were cheap goals to give away. “In the main, we are happy with the workout with everyone playing at least 45 minutes. Forres were pretty good, so it was a good experience for us once again.” The home side went ahead with a free kick from wide on the left on five minutes was flicked into the net in the six-yard box. The second goal was an identical finish on 20 minutes before a simple cross was looped in with a header to make it three. The Jags then made it four shortly before the interval to give themselves a commanding half-time lead. But Nairn rallied in the second half pulling a goal back on the hour-mark. Ryan MacBean held the ball up at the edge of the box before working a yard of space and firing low across the goalkeeper. Tyler Eadie then created the second Nairn goal by beating the Forres left back and delivering a cross that was controlled by Alex Geddes, who then laid it off for Jack W. Maclean to stroke home with 15 minutes left. Then, three minutes from time, Nairn struck again after a good move involving MacBean, Eadie and new arrival Lewis Mitchell led to the latter striking the ball home via the inside of the post from just inside the box. Nairn County – Rae, Cuthbert, McDermott (Jack W. Maclean 46), Robertson (Davidson 46), Wheeler (R. Mackenzie 46), Cameron Maclean (S. Main 46), Hallam (Eadie 46), Payne (Cruden 46), Young (MacBean 30), McConaghy (Mitchell 46), Gordon (Geddes 46). Subs unused – . Graeme Macleod
