4 hours ago
BREEDON HIGHLAND LEAGUE
NAIRN COUNTY 1 – 4 BRECHIN CITY
SATURDAY 28 MARCH 2026
STATION PARK, NAIRN
Goal Scorers: Ben Kelly (90′); Grady McGrath (25′, 55′,75′), Ben Armour (84′)
Ralph Sayer Man of the Match: Millar Gamble
Match Report by John Dolan
Nairn made four changes for the visit of Brechin City. Out went injured pair Jamie Carnihan, and Kenny MacKenzie, while Paul Brindle and Finn As-Chainey dropped to the bench. In came Calum MacLean, Adrian Voigt, Ben Barron and Angus Dey.
It was a bright start from the visitors and they might have been ahead in seven minutes, but there were no takers for Spencer Moreland’s low delivery into the Nairn box. The ball broke for Scott Fraser, but his shot was blocked.
A great ball in from Callum Hannam caused panic in the home defence as it flew across the penalty area before taking a deflection for a corner.
And it took a great block from Dale Wood in 18 minutes to stop the Angus men from taking the lead following a powerful drive from Lewis Martin.
So it was no surprise when the visitors took the lead in 25 minutes. Keiran Inglis’s perfect delivery picked out Grady McGrath and he made no mistake from 14 yards.
It was almost 2-0 in 35 minutes, but MacLean was well placed to clear Inglis’s shot off the line after a scramble in the box.
Nairn came more into it in the last 10 minutes of the half and they almost drew level with their first attempt on goal; however, Barron’s first-time effort off an Andy Greig delivery flashed inches wide of the upright.
And a couple of minutes before the break, Wood let rip with a shot from 25 yards that flew just over. (H-T 0-1.)
In the opening exchanges of the second period there wasn’t much between the sides, but that all changed with 55 minutes on the clock – and it got worse two minutes later.
A long diagonal ball from Martin, from just over the half-way line, picked out McGrath and, unmarked, headed far too easily across Tom McHale and the ball nestled just inside the upright.
And it became almost mission impossible for the home side when captain Fraser Dingwall was red carded when he totally wiped out McGrath, who got to the ball first, a yard outside the area. From the resultant free kick, McHale pulled off a superb, low save to his left to deny McGrath.
But the 10 men capitulated, 15 minutes from time – and once again the home defence was posted missing. A Moreland deep cross from the right found McGrath in acres of space and he made no mistake with his header from 10 yards to complete his hat-trick.
Six minutes from time, the visitors added a fourth when McHale failed to get enough on the ball as he attempted to fist clear. And as the keeper went head first over the top of a teammate substitute Ben Armour had the easy task of heading into an empty goal.
But County grabbed a well-taken consolation in added time when substitute Ben Kelly sent a powerful header off a Greig cross beyond Andrew McNeil in the Brechin goal.
County can have few complaints about the final result. Apart from a brief spell just before and after half-time it was the visitors who dominated; however, Wayne Mackintosh will surely be unhappy with all three second half goals in which his defence was posted missing.
NAIRN COUNTY – McHale, Wood (Watson 78), MacLean (yellow 63), Gamble, Dingwall (red 57), MacInnes (y65), Mackay, Dey, Barron (y27), Voigt (y57) (Kelly 69), Greig. Substitutes not used – Brindle, As-Chainey, Thompson, Maclean (gk).
BRECHIN CITY – McNeil, Martin, Spark, Beattie (Armour 79), Fraser (Milne 79), MacLeod, Inglis (yellow 51) (Findlay 67), Moreland, McGrath, Farquhar (Klimionek 85). Hannam (Sweenie-Rowe 85). Substitute not used – Weir (gk).
Referee – Will Adam.
Up next for Nairn is a trip to face Turriff United on Wednesday evening, kick off 8.0, followed by another away trip on Saturday to face Brechin City, kick off 3pm.
