July 15th 2024
LIAM Shewan helped himself to a hat-trick on his first Nairn County start and there were doubles for Ewen Urquhart and Tom Maclennan in a 7-0 friendly win over Burghead Thistle. Ronnie Sharp handed a debut to 17-year-old Angus Davidson and he had a hand in the opener on 14 minutes. Liam Shewan (pictured) had already seen an earlier goal disallowed by a narrow offside call. But on this occasion, he timed his run perfectly to latch on to Davidson’s through pass before getting his angles right to trundle a low shot-on-the-turn in off the far post. Cohen Ramsay picked out Gussie Dey with a cutback from the left on 16 minutes but his shot was headed clear from the goal line by a covering defender. All three of the players on loan at Burghead from Nairn started for the visitors and two of them linked up on 16 minutes with Joe Cuthbert feeding Ryan MacBean before the striker spun and saw a shot from a tight angle held by Dylan Maclean on 19 minutes. Then, two minutes later, MacBean went close again but his dipping effort from 25 yards out to the left of goal flew just past the right-hand post. Aidan Macdonald in the Burghead goal made a double save on 27 minutes, parrying Shewan’s effort after he had been found by Ramsay’s cutback before blocking Dey’s follow-up. But there was nothing the goalkeeper could when he was left exposed by Glenn Main’s raking pass on 33 minutes. The skipper picked out Ewen Urquhart, who had made a diagonal run in from the right to get in behind the Thistle defence, and the midfielder did the rest as he despatched the ball across Macdonald and it at the far corner. Urquhart struck the post four minutes before the break to deny him a first half double. There were further debuts at the break with Sharp introducing 17-year-olds Tyler Eadie and Lewis Mitchell, with both going on to make a positive impact. In fact, it took Eadie just four minutes to make his mark as he pulled the ball back from the by-line on the left for fellow sub Tom Maclennan to stride on to and stroke home Nairn’s third goal from 10 yards. Eadie then played in an inviting delivery from the right that rolled all the way through for arriving left-back, Callum Ednie. But he could not keep his first time shot down as he side-footed the ball over the crossbar from just inside the box on 57 minutes. Fraser Dingwall smashed a shot inches over the crossbar from 30 yards on the hour-mark before Eadie also went close just a minute later after being picked out by Ramsay. But the next goal arrived 10 minutes later. Eadie was fouled just outside the box and Tom Maclennan stepped up to lift the free kick over the wall and into the top right-hand corner. Eadie then slipped the ball through for Liam Shewan on 75 minutes. And he got there just ahead of the outrushing Macdonald to round the goalkeeper and roll home his second of the night. Debutant Mitchell was involved in the next goal on 82 minutes as he spread the ball out to advancing right back, Adam Porritt, who then found the run infield of Ewen Urquhart. The midfielder then stroked the ball across Macdonald and into the far corner to make it six. A minute later, Liam Shewan rounded off the scoring and completed his hat-trick. Eadie poked the ball through from the edge of the box and the striker did the rest as he spun and swept the ball into the bottom corner with his right boot to make it seven. Nairn County – D. Maclean (Kendall 46), Cameron Maclean (Dingwall 46), K. McKenzie (Ednie 20), Davidson (Mitchell 46), Glenn Main, Porritt, Dey (Eadie 46), Naismith (Maclennan 46), D. Mackenzie (Urquhart 13), Shewan, Ramsay. Subs unused: -. Referee – Gordon Seago. Graeme Macleod
