November 20th 2023
IT was Groundhog Day for Nairn County manager Ronnie Sharp as he watched his side suffer their second defeat in the row. Max Ewan missed a first-half penalty kick for Nairn before setting up Adam Porritt for the opener to send County in ahead at the break. But Bradley Manson levelled it up for Keith before Cammy Keith struck for the hosts just after the hour-mark to win it. Sharp said: “We are saying the same thing every week – we have looked comfortable in the game in the last two weeks but in the last third of the park, we are really, really struggling to score a clear-cut goal. “We had chance after chance but there was no end-product in the last third and that is putting us under so much pressure. We had chances to go 2-0 up and then there was an error defensively from the goalkeeper to allow them to make it 1-1 and we are then under even more pressure. “We did not play well up until we won the penalty, which the goalkeeper saved but you are more or less counting on them going in. But we went 1-0 up right after that, so there was no real negative effect from missing the penalty. We then came out in the second half and had a great chance to go 2-0 up in the first five minutes of the half and then the next thing we knew we were 2-1 down.” He added: “Keith pushed on when it 1-1 and we needed strong personalities to drag us through the game but we do not seem to have that. We seem to be accepting of things when they go wrong. That could be down to a lack of experience or commitment – it is hard to put your finger on it. We looked like a poor team.” Next weekend’s scheduled opponents Cove Rangers’ draw with Auchinleck Talbot in the Scottish Cup ensures Nairn have no game next weekend as those two sides replay. And Sharp is planning big changes to his line-up before they next to the field with Buckie Thistle visiting Station Park in the preliminary round of the Highland League (Morganti) Cup in a fortnight’s time. Sharp revealed: “We will have to change it about and we have players missing too. We need to look about to see if there are any players available to come in but that is very hard halfway through the season. It could be a big opportunity for some of the players in our under-20s squad because we are not pushing on to win games and our play in the last third is costing us every single week.” Graeme Macleod
