Second half goals fire Nairn to victory
NAIRN County are only five points behind second-placed Cove Rangers in the Highland League with a game in hand following Saturday’s 3-0 victory at Brora Rangers.
Despite the scoreline, Brora worked Nairn hard and the breakthrough didn’t arrive until 67 minutes when sub Craig MacMillan put Les Fridge’s team ahead.
A superb looping Paul Macleod header doubled Nairn’s advantage five minutes later before Robbie Duncanson crashed home an unstoppable 20-yarder two minutes from time to add gloss to the result.
Nairn are in midweek derby action when they head to Inverness to face Clach, who drew 2-2 at Huntly at the weekend.
Yet, it was the Black and Golds who got off to the perfect start when Michael Fyfe crashed a low shot past keeper David Harrison.
However, the Lilywhites equalised on 15 minutes when Chris Ross lifted a fine shot over former Clach keeper Neil Hastie.
Seven minutes into the second half, David Booth restored Huntly’s one-goal advantage, but Michael Finnis knocked home a rebounded shot from Sam Urquhart to make it 2-2.
Clach almost sealed a victory with three minutes left when Finnis saw his penalty saved after Craig Dorrat handled in the box.
Fort William are now just two goals shy of conceding 100 Highland League goals this season after Saturday’s home 6-1 defeat by Fraserburgh.
Three days following a 9-0 hammering at Claggan Park by rampant Nairn County, Fort’s young side had no answer again to the goal power of the Broch.
Scott Barbour shot Fraserburgh in front after just 10 minutes and he doubled their lead on the half hour mark.
Courtney Cooper added a third before the break when he netted from a tight angle after keeper Robbie Donaldson pushed away a Mark Cowie free-kick.
Early in the second half, Graham Johnston cashed in on a defensive error to make it 4-0 and headed home his second of the afternoon on 61 minutes.
Willie West rounded off the scoring for Fraserburgh before Logan Barker bagged Fort’s consolation.
Bottom-placed Fort return to action in the league on Wednesday night when they host in-form Keith.
Elsewhere in the league, Rothes were 2-0 victors at Strathspey Thistle and Wick Academy and Inverurie Locos shared two goals at Harmsworth Park.
In the Highland League Cup quarter-finals, Keith stunned runaway league leaders Forres Mechanics when they won a penalty shoot-out 4-3 after it finished 1-1 following 120 minutes of action.
There was drama at Victoria Park as Buckie Thistle grabbed a late winner in extra-time to see off Deveronvale 2-1. This game saw the return to the dug-out of former Fraserburgh boss Charlie Duncan, in the Vale hot-seat at least until the end of this season.
In the other ties, Cove Rangers made the semis thanks to a 4-0 home success against Lossiemouth and Turriff United got through after their 1-0 victory over visitors Formartine United.
