July 15th 2024
GLENN Main and Dylan Maclean have both agreed contract extensions with Nairn County to keep them at Station Park until the end of the 2018/19 season. It is a further boost for manager Ronnie Sharp, who has already secured the services of Jordan Macrae, Callum Maclean, Kenny McKenzie, Gary Kerr, Stephen Mackenzie and Ross Naismith until the same time with Jack Maclean agreeing terms until 2020. Sharp was thrilled to secure the futures of a further two key players, who have proven their worth throughout the season so far. The boss said: "I am delighted that we have been able to sign up Glenn and Dylan again." "Both players have been excellent for us this season. Glenn is the vice-captain of the team and one of the senior players in the squad, although he is only just reaching his prime as a centre half. He is one of the players in the dressing room who the younger lads look up to for the way he goes about his business. It is important to have players like that in your squad." "He brings great experience from his time with the club and Nairn St Ninian before that and he is a versatile player too. Although he has played the majority of this season at centre half, he has the energy and the skills to go in at full back or play in the middle of the park. In fact, I even played him up front for a season at St Ninian years ago and he was superb." "I think you can see now that he is beginning to thrive on the added responsibility. The likes of Glenn, his brother Gregg and Wayne Mackintosh are the senior players at the club now and they all seem to be enjoying that role." Sharp added: "Dylan was thrown in at the deep end in the summer but he has handled it really well. We did not know what we were going to get with Dylan at the start of the season but it is all credit to him that he has taken his chance and claimed the number 1 jersey." "There is more to come from him and at 20 years old, he has the vast majority of his career ahead of him. He can only improve if he continues to work hard in training and show the right attitude. He has really taken to the training that Mikie Rae is putting him through and I think you can see the benefits of that with Dylan's progression this season. Mikie is doing great work with all of the goalkeepers at the club and they all really enjoy working with him." Main came through the club's youth system and made his debut in a 6-0 home win over Lossiemouth on May 7th 2003 before making a first start for the club away at Cove Rangers on January 3rd 2004. He then spent two seasons at Nairn St Ninian where he won the Elginshire Cup and a promotion before returning to Station Park and making his second debut in 3-0 home win over Forres Mechanics in the North of Scotland Cup on July 31st 2007. The 31-year-old bagged a superb 24-minute hat-trick in the 5-3 Highland League (Morganti) Cup win at Rothes on March 18th 2009 among his highlights which also saw him lift that trophy in 2011, scoring in the final, as well as scooping a North of Scotland Cup winners' medal in 2012. Main has played every minute of every match so far this season and he said: "It was always going to be an easy decision for me to stay. It was never a thought of mine to leave the club when everything happened in the close season. I never had a single doubt about remaining with the club." "I would say we have done better than anybody would have expected this season. Everything at the club is going in the right direction now. We have a new sponsor in as well, so we cannot grumble about how the club has gone since what happened in the summer." "As a senior player, I have had to step up and help the younger lads out a bit more but that is not something I will shy away from. I am happy to help them out where I can and hopefully we can work together to turn these draws and silly lost points into wins and get a good run in either cup competition but that will come with experience because we have a lot of young boys in the team." "Look at the game up at Brora – if that was next season, we would probably hold on and win that game with the experience we would then have under our belts. But it is all looking good for the future of the club." Maclean came on as sub to debut in the 7-1 home thumping by Brora Rangers last season after Calum Antell was red-carded with the game already well beyond Nairn. He was jettisoned from the line-up in favour of a trialist while Antell served his suspension though and had to wait until the opening day of this season to make his first start for the club, again against Brora Rangers. The 20-year-old has made 23 appearances so far this season and kept two clean sheets, earning the right to call himself the club's first choice 'keeper by building up a catalogue of breathtaking saves. He said: "It was a very easy decision to take. I have really enjoyed this season with playing every week and working alongside Mike and Ronnie. I am really, really enjoying working with them this year, which is a big change from last year." "I only played about 30 minutes last season and I have now gone on to play as many games as I have this season, which is a big change." Maclean came into the team at the start of the season with immediate questions asked by the Station Park faithful regarding the stopper's lack of height. But his performances between the posts have belied the fears of the fans. He said: "The height thing got my confidence down a bit but Mikie is working me on taking crosses all the time and it is coming along quite well. The height is not becoming too much of an issue anymore and I really enjoy the drills that Mike is putting me through. I am learning every training session and there is always something new to learn. He has been with Rangers and is bringing a lot of good drills along to training, which is far better than we had before." Graeme Macleod
