November 20th 2023
LES Fridge hailed his miniature heroes as his diminutive, make shift eleven took all three points at Kynoch Park this afternoon, writes Graeme Macleod. A number of key players missed the trip meaning that Fridge was forced to ring the changes but the manager stated after the match that his only worry was regarding the height in his line up despite using squad members whose game time has been limited so far this season. He said: “It was an opportunity for the players to show what they could do because we had eight big players out today. My only concern was the lack of height in the squad because we had Tony Wallace, Bobo (Martin MacDonald), Mo (Michael Morrison) and Webby (Sean Webb) all out. “We had to work hard, which was great for us because we had to shuffle things about with players playing in different positions to what they are used to and they all responded. “It was a good result and it could have been more, especially in the first half when we had one or two really good chances to extend our lead, which we did not take. Even in the second half we created some good chances but we had to come here and battle and it is good to bounce back from last week with three points.” The absentees from the team meant that the majority of the changes to the starting line up were in defence. But despite an unfamiliar back line, County recorded a clean sheet, much to Fridge’s delight. He said: “Adam (Naismith), Skins (Andrew Skinner) and Glenn (Main) have all gone in there because there was no Mo, Bobo or Webby and I thought they all did well. We were always going to have our moments but they worked really hard. Adam has organised things in there and we have got our rewards.” Gregg Main caused the home defence no end of problems with his probing through passes, one of which lead to the opening goal as he looped the ball over the home defence for Conor Gethins to run on to and break the deadlock. Main was joined in midfield for the last few minutes by Wayne Mackintosh, making his first appearance of the season as a late substitute. Fridge added: “It has been well highlighted that we have Gregg back this season and we are delighted with that. You can see from his performances so far this season that he was a big miss for us last year. For a lot of last season, we were missing Gregg and Toshy (Wayne Mackintosh) and it has been good to have at least one of them back. “I put Toshy on just to waste a bit of time and told him just to go out there and chase the ball. He is a wee bit off it yet in terms of starting games and getting properly involved but it was just a chance for him to get on and for us to kill the clock a little bit.” Graeme Macleod
