November 20th 2023
RONNIE Sharp conceded his side was second best to Fraserburgh in the second half but felt that had his players taken one of their first half chances, they would have looked a good bet to go on and win the game. The Nairn manager saw Jordan Macrae hit the crossbar, Callum Maclean hit the post and Gary Kerr denied by a superb diving save from Paul Leask in the Fraserburgh goal before Paul Campbell opened the scoring just before half time. Jamie Beagrie then headed home Fraserburgh's second of the afternoon 20 minutes from the end to ensure all three points would be heading back along the coast. Sharp said: "We probably had the better chances in the first half hitting the post and the crossbar with the goalkeeper also making a great save from Gary Kerr. But in the second half, they were the better side. They looked like scoring and we did not. We huffed and puffed but we are going to get games like that. We will probably play worse this season and win." He added: "I do not think we played too badly overall and we were good in the first half. We were unlucky not to score but we need to take our chances when we are on top but in the second half, we looked a bit tired as the game went on." The opening goal came after Gregg Main had the ball nicked off him by Jamie Beagrie despite appearing to be hauled back by Fraserburgh midfielder Michael Rae prior to being dispossessed. Sharp said: "They put pressure on us to win the ball high up the park which was good play from them. We like to play out from the back and we are not going to stop that, even if it means we are sometimes going to give the ball away. We tried to pass the ball out, lost possession in the middle of the park and the ball was in the net two or three passes late. It was a clinical finish and good bit of composure from the boy Jamie Beagrie to square it across followed by an easy tap in." Beagrie headed home the second after an insipid start to the second half by Nairn and despite no lack of effort from the hosts, they never really threatened to turn things around. Sharp said: "We kept pushing forward but we did not look like putting them under too much pressure. I do not think the goalkeeper had too many saves in the second half. He made the crucial one in the first half from Gary Kerr." "We cannot get too disappointed because Fraserburgh are a very good side and in the top six in the table for a reason. I thought our performance was good and we played better than we did last week and we got a point last week." "They are a good side who have been together a while and are rightly up there in the league. We are still building towards that and I do not think there was too much between the two sides but they were the better team in the second half." Graeme Macleod
