October 9th 2026
BREEDON HIGHLAND LEAGUE
NAIRN COUNTY 1 -0 CLACHNACUDDIN
SATURDAY 2ND AUGUST 2025
STATION PARK, NAIRN
Goalscorers: Ben Barron (57′)
Ralph Sayer Man of the Match: Ben Kelly
Match Report by John Dolan
A superbly-taken goal just before the hour from Ben Barron gave Nairn their first league win of the new season. The visitors enjoyed the better of the first half, but after the break Nairn came more into the game and Barron’s finish off a Ben Kelly cross was real quality.
Wayne Mackintosh made two changes to the side that drew midweek with Deveronvale. In came Callum MacLean and Millar Gamble for the injured Fraser Dingwall, while Sam Gordon dropped to the bench. Gamble also took the captain’s armband in the absence of Dingwall.
Clach had the ball in the net in seven minutes, when Ben Cormack headed home a corner, but the ref ruled there had been a push inside the box and it was disallowed.
Minutes later James Anderson had a free header off another corner, but the Clach man headed over when well placed.
The visitors continued to press and Troy Cooper was next to have a go, but he pulled his shot wide of the near post.
The game became a bit scrappy midway through the half and there was little in the way of goalmouth action; however, the visitors again threatened from a corner when Cormack again rose above everyone, but the big defender couldn’t get his header on target.
County came close to breaking the deadlock eight minutes before the break when Ben Kelly took advantage of some sloppy defending. The attacker was able to get a shot away, but Harry Nicholson was on hand to deflect the goal-bound shot for a corner. (H-T 0-0.)
Clach were on the front foot after the break, winning two corners in quick succession. Nicholson then picked out Anderson in the box, but the striker’s goal-bound shot was blocked and the Nairn defence quickly cleared its lines.
At the other end, Kelly tried his luck from 20 years, only to see his effort flash just over.
Clach replied with Andrew Macrae finding space to charge towards the Nairn box only for his shot to be blocked and MacLean was able to gather easily.
But it was the home side who finally broke the deadlock in 57 minutes.
Kelly found space down the right and when he whipped in a powerful delivery Barron was first to react with a terrific header that gave Mark Ridgers absolutely no chance.
Clach were denied an equaliser minutes later when a ball into the area found the unmarked Cooper, but his shot was well saved by Dylan MacLean – about the only save of any note from either keeper in the whole match.
Nice work down the left by Nicolson and Cooper saw the ball played into the area to Trialist but he blazed well over.
Substitute Allan MacPhee shaped up well as he cut in from the right, but his low drive drifted just wide of MacLean’s far post.
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With time running out the impressive Macrae rattled the crossbar with a terrific drive from 25 yards.
And there was further late drama when, in the dying seconds, Clach thought they had snatched a share of the spoils. A ball into the Nairn area came off Jamie Carnihan and ended up in the back of the net; however, home fans breathed a sigh of relief after the linesman’s flag went up against Troy Cooper, whose presence in an offside position forced Carnihan into the botched clearance attempt.
The Clach men surrounded the ref and linesman in protest, but the decision correctly stood.
It was certainly a dramatic ending to a hard-fought derby and the win sets County up nicely for the visit of Brora Rangers on Wednesday night in the first round of the North of Scotland Cup. Kick off 8.00 pm. Brora come into the match on the back of a 3-0 defeat at Fraserburgh.
The win moves Nairn up to joint eighth place in the SHFL, with four points from three games.
NAIRN COUNTY –D. MacLean, Carnihan, C. MacLean, Gamble (c), Watson, C. McKenzie (Dey 67), Mackay (yellow 76), Eadie (yellow 28), Barron (Brindle 75), Kelly (As-Chainey 86), Voigt. Substitutes not used – Bain, Gordon, Thomson, Trialist, Munro (gk).
CLACHNACUDDIN – Ridgers, Cormack, Nicolson (c), Cooper, Anderson, Macrae, Mackenzie (MacPhee 55), Adams (Gillies 75), Morrison, Lawrie, Leszczynski. Substitutes not used – Trialist, Macleod, Trialist, Trialist (gk).
Referee – Stuart Randall.
