November 20th 2023
RONNIE Sharp dedicated today's 2-1 home win over Huntly to the fans who witnessed County's heaviest defeat of the season in the away match at Forres a week-and-a-half ago. Sharp's men went down by seven goals to one at Mosset Park that night but bounced back with victory in this one, to make it a double over Huntly this season. And the manager felt it was the least he and his players could deliver for the fans who travelled in their numbers to that disappointing derby match. He said: "We had to put the Forres game behind us, where we had a total off day all over the park. To come and win at home in our final league match here this season was for the fans and we owed it to them after they paid good money to travel to Forres and see the performance they did. I thought the players gave everything today and I hope the fans enjoyed it." Gary Kerr gave Nairn the perfect start with the opening goal on four minutes before Robbie Duncanson blasted a penalty over the crossbar just before the half-hour mark. Glenn Murison headed an equaliser for Huntly six minutes into the second half but just four minutes later, Wayne Mackintosh popped up with the winner at the other end as he bagged his eighth goal of the season. Sharp said: "It had a derby feel to it, probably because of the ex-Nairn players in the Huntly team. It was not a pretty game at all and was played out like a derby. It was a war of attrition so to speak but we are delighted to take the three points." He added: "The opening goal was really well worked. It was an excellent finish by Gary but I thought we stepped off it then and did not push on, which let them back into the game. We got into a bit of a rut, as we have done in most of our derby games this season, where we have put in some of our poorest performances." "They eventually equalised and it was nip and tuck at that stage but I thought we upped our performance after that, especially in the last quarter of the game. We finished strongly and I thought we could have scored a couple of more goals, although they will argue they could have had a couple themselves before that. Overall, I am delighted to take the three points." Sharp saw Huntly control a lot of possession but the hard-working defensive shift put in by his side prevented the visitors from creating much in the way of clear cut chances in front of goal. The boss said: "We lost the shape in the first half but we got it back before we got in at half time and we kept it better in the second half. We put a lot of work into that through the week at training and it paid off. We looked more comfortable with it in the second half and it was a great result to get, especially with the teams around about us winning." Graeme Macleod
