July 15th 2024
THE under-20s put Forres Mechanics to the sword again with a 5-0 North of Scotland League win at Station Park where all the goals arrived in a devastating 14-minute spell before half time. Nairn threatened on 10 minutes after Tom Maclennan’s corner kick from right was cleared out to Sam Campbell but his shot from 20 yards was touched wide by Forres goalkeeper Jamie Brown. The ball was then cleared back to Maclennan on the left off the corner which followed and his delivery found the unmarked Callum Ednie at the far post. But the defender’s header was tame and straight at Brown. Campbell was involved again seven minutes later after nicking the ball off right back Matt Kennedy off a Brown kick out and he attempted to loop the ball over the Forres stopper but could only find the side netting. Seamus McConaghy bagged four goals when these two sides last met almost a month ago and he opened the scoring here on 27 minutes. Danny Highet took a quick throw-in on the right to Joe Cuthbert and he kept the ball moving on to Campbell. His neat pass was ran on to by Seamus McConaghy inside the left side of the box and he smashed the ball into the roof of the net from a tight angle. Two minutes later, Nairn doubled their lead. Campbell claimed the assist again with a clipped cross from the left that found the unmarked Ryan MacBean at the far post and he headed home. County should have made it three on 33 minutes. Highet was completely unmarked in the box to control Ricky Mackenzie’s cross from the right but he went for power over accuracy and sent the ball sailing over the crossbar. But Danny Highet made amends just a minute later to make it 3-0. He showed determination to shrug off a defender as he raced on to a through pass before slotting the ball under advancing goalkeeper Brown. Brown then excelled on 37 minutes to keep out a 30-yard thunderbolt from Tom Maclennan which was destined for the top corner as the goalkeeper threw himself to his left to touch the ball wide. But that only denied the fourth goal by a minute. Seamus McConaghy jinked in along the by-line on the left evading two challenges before rolling the ball under the goalkeeper from a tight angle. It was five on 41 minutes with Sam Campbell getting on the act. He cut in from the left before firing in a low shot goalwards which took a deflection to wrong foot Brown and trickled into the net. Nairn almost added a sixth goal on 59 minutes but Ricky Mackenzie’s header off Maclennan’s corner from the left was cleared off the line. MacBean headed a Maclennan corner over and then touched substitute Alex Geddes’s low cross from the right beyond the far post as he looked for his second of the night before Joe Cuthbert’s low effort from the right edge of the box flashed across goal and beyond the far post. MacBean went close again on 86 minutes when he ran on to Fraser Wilkie’s long kick out and touched the ball past the advancing Forres stopper but it rolled past the post. Nairn County – D. Maclean (Wilkie 69), Ednie (Payne 76), Fernandino-Soto (J. W. Maclean 63), Cameron Maclean, R. Mackenzie, Maclennan (Wheeler 69), Cuthbert, Campbell, MacBean, Highet (Geddes 69), McConaghy. Subs unused: Payne. Forres Mechanics – Brown (Park 72), Kennedy (yellow 47), Smith (Fairgrieve 61), McCartney, Fraser (y 84), Wilson (Michie 66), Burdenell (y 53), MacGilvery (Ward 46), Marini (y 75), Paterson, Simpson (Hage 51). Sub unused: Park. Referee – John Nicolson. Graeme Macleod
