October 5th 2026
The season has been flying in and we are past the halfway mark already. We have made a lot of progress and we have all learned a lot along the way but we have also identified where we need to improve during the rest of the season. We have various internal targets, big and small, that we would like to meet and we will be doing all we can to be successful in that regard.
We have also started to look ahead to next season and are thinking about the areas of the team we would like to strengthen. I am delighted that we have been able to bring in one of our targets, Dale Wood, ahead of schedule. We were looking to bring him to the club in time for next season but an opportunity came up to do a deal now, so I was really pleased to be able to pull that one over the line this week. We are looking forward to having Dale as part of the team and we will keep working to try to strengthen the squad as much as we feel is necessary as we look to make a strong start to 2026 and build momentum ahead of next season.
It is a tough time to be a player at this level because like everyone else, you are looking forward to a break from your day job and some down time over the festive period but at the same time, you have to keep on top of your training and your fitness and ensure that you are prepared properly for the games and we certainly have a tough run with home matches against two championship challengers in Formartine United and Brora Rangers and an away trip to Huntly, who we have one win apiece with so far this season.
We were delighted with the results we were able to put on the board throughout September with a number of wins built on some clean sheets. I did not feel we put together a full 90-minute performance though and that is still something I feel we are striving for. We have seen the best of the team in spells during matches and admittedly on a lot of occasions that has been enough to get the win but from my point of view, I would rather some of those wins were made more comfortable because we had played at or close to our best for the full 90 minutes. That will continue to be a work in progress for us as we move into the New Year.
At the end of September, we went over the border to England to visit Berwick Rangers in the Scottish Cup and came away with a 2-0 win. I have to thank the club for the support we received for that trip – they understood that it would have been asking a lot of the players to travel such a distance on the morning of the match, so we stayed over in Dunfermline on the Friday night and had a pre-match lunch at Berwick the next day. That sort of preparation made all the difference on the day as we were able to go into the match refreshed and better prepared than we would have done had we set off from Nairn first thing in the morning and had a long bus trip ahead of us. It was also great to see so many of our fans there at that game who had gone to such great efforts to be there and support the boys – that was the extra push we needed to get us over the line against a strong opponent and I would like to take this chance to thank everyone who came down there for the match.
I felt we let ourselves down in October. I do not want to labour the point but we were disappointed with some of the results in that month, especially going out of the Scottish Cup. There were learning points in there for us all and in fairness, I feel the players have bounced back well since then. We have made it through in the Highland League Cup and we will be going all out to give ourselves the best chance to reach the semi finals when that competition resumes again at the end of next month.
The players, coaching staff and I were all gutted when we lost Peter Gow at the start of November. Peter always made himself known to new players when they signed for the club, so he was a familiar face to us all. He always had positive words of support for the team regardless of the result and he is missed by everyone in the dressing room. We are devastated for Dot too and we are all sending our love to her.
We started December away at Clach, which was always a match I treated like a cup final when I was a player. A draw was probably a fair result in the end, although having got through the first half playing into the strong wind without conceding we were a bit disappointed not to have made more of having the wind at our backs in the second half and create more openings in the final third.
We will need to take chances when they come our way on Saturday against Formartine United for what is sure to be a tough game against one of the top teams in the league. I hope to see as many fans there as possible to give us that extra bit of support and I also look forward to seeing you all at our annual Charity Dip on Christmas Eve.
Thank you for all of your support so far this season, it really is appreciated by myself and the players. I would like to wish all of you and your families a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
WAYNE MACKINTOSH
Manager
Nairn County Football Club
