December 5th 2023
THE under-20s opened their North of Scotland League programme with a hard-fought win at Lossiemouth. But coach Stuart Finnie feels there is still more to come from his young side. The County 20s gaffer handed full debuts to Lewis Mitchell, Duncan Robertson and Ciaran Young with none of his matchday squad in their final year of under-20s eligibility and only two in their second last year. Cameron Maclean struck a first half double to secure the points with Lossie pulling a goal back in the second half before piling on the pressure in search of an equaliser. But Nairn held firm for the win. Finnie said: “We did not play as well as we can and we can definitely pay better. But once we had something to hold on to, we did not want to give it up in the end. We are lacking a bit of match sharpness, although our overall fitness is not a problem." “We were solid enough in the first half and managed to go 2-0 up and we had another couple of chances to increase our lead too, although our goalkeeper, Fraser Wilkie, had a couple of decent stops." “We struggled a wee bit to cope with the long ball in the first half but we looked dangerous going forward. They pulled a goal back in the second half and it was backs-to-the-walls stuff for us from then on as they threw everything at us but it was straight up defiance from us to hold on for the win.” The visitors went in front early on with Cameron Maclean lashing a 25-yard free kick into the top left-hand corner of the net to open the scoring. Then, Cameron Maclean got in front of his marker to meet a corner with a header that crashed home beyond the Lossiemouth goalkeeper. The hosts halved the deficit in the second half and went for broke in the closing stages but the Nairn defence of Joe Cuthbert, Euan Wheeler, Duncan Robertson and Jack W. Maclean in front of goalkeeper Fraser Wilkie has an answer for everything Lossie produced to take the points back to the Station Park. Nairn County – Wilkie, Cuthbert, Jack W. Maclean, Robertson, Wheeler, Cameron Maclean, Eadie (McWilliams 60), Campbell (McDermott 65), Young (Davidson 70), Mitchell (Geddes 65), MacBean. Sub unused: Cruden. Graeme Macleod
