July 15th 2024
IT was Davy Johnston Day at Station Park as the new enclosure was officially opened and manager Ronnie Sharp was delighted to mark the occasion with a first home win of the season. The boss saw Gary Kerr net a first half double to put his side in the box seat before Ross Naismith rattled home another goal in the final minute to round off a comfortable 3-0 success. Sharp said: "We needed to get a home win under our belts. We have played poorly here for a few games, so it was good to get off the mark, especially with the opening of the Davy Johnston Enclosure and having a bigger crowd in." "The first half performance was really good and I was delighted with that. We started the game well instead of conceding early on and that makes a big difference. Our performance carried on from Cove in midweek, where we played well and we have taken that into this game." "Usually we have struggled when we have had a midweek game followed by another on the Saturday but hopefully the boys are now becoming fitter and we still have boys out who will be looking to come back in, so that will make the squad stronger." Kerr coolly stroked home the opener on 11 minutes before being on the end of a fine, sweeping move to double his tally on 29 minutes – Kenny McKenzie and Jason Morganti linked up well on the left before the latter picked out Calum Riddell infield and his switch-of-play sent Jamie Mackay scampering down the right wing before delivering a perfect, first time cross for Kerr to convert at the near post. "It was very good football and I thought all three goals were good," Sharp commented. "The first two were footballing goals and the third goal was a brilliant strike." That third goal was netted by Ross Naismith, who was playing in a more advanced role alongside Kerr up front. Sharp added: "We have the two boys who played today plus Jordan (Macrae), who came on and young Dylan (Mackenzie) as our four forwards. We can switch it about with those four. We started the season playing a different system but now we have gone to two up front, we look a bigger threat." Sharp was pleased to have been involved on such a special occasion with one of his former managers being honoured with the naming the enclosure. He said: "It is great for the club to have the enclosure named after the greatest player ever to have played in the Highland League for me. I played for him when he managed Nairn St Ninian as well." "It was a great thing to be involved in for me and the players and to get a win on top of it makes it that extra bit special for everybody." Graeme Macleod
