Nairn reach fifth spot after sinking Strathspey
NAIRN County scored a 3-1 home Highland League win against Strathspey Thistle on Saturday – as Conor Gethins again found the net.
The former Ross County and Peterhead hot-shot has now scored 13 goals for the season, with only Cammy Keith at Formartine United ahead of him in the charts with 17 goals.
Gethins twice went close for the Station Parkers, while the Jags, who had stunned Clach 2-1 the previous weekend, almost took the lead thanks to Ian Brooks.
However, Nairn grabbed the 1-0 advantage on the half hour mark when Gethins headed home when he met a cross from Daniel Moore.
Moore was soon again the provider and ex-Caley Thistle forward Stuart Leslie headed home another for Les Fridge’s side.
The goals kept coming for Nairn and they were 3-0 ahead at half-time after Gregg Main scored from a Gethins cross.
Thistle’s Mark McKernie crashed home a free-kick early in the second half to give his side hope.
Home keeper Callum Donaldson was sent off on 56 minutes for taking down Ronnie Jones on the edge of the penalty area, but Nairn did enough with 10 men to gain all three points.
This win takes Nairn into fifth place and they return to action a week on Saturday at home to Turriff United as this weekend’s it’s the William Hill Scottish Cup second round. Nairn were knocked out at the first stage by Linlithgow Rose.
Fort William scored first against Highland League leaders Brora Rangers on Saturday – but ended up 6-1 losers.
It was a mighty task for Danny Conlon’s young and depleted side to try and shock the wealthy north club, but they marched into the lead after just five minutes when veteran midfielder Gary Farquhar netted from close range past keeper Joe Malin.
However, six minutes later Steven Mackay hauled Brora level and Ryan Ross then Mackay again made it 3-1.
Mackay headed home for his hat-trick and Ross Tokely got in on the act to make it 5-1 at half-time.
Another former Caley Jag, Richie Hart, added the sixth in the second half as Fort battled to avoid a thrashing similar to last season’s 12-2 defeat at Dudgeon Park.
Clach’s troubles continued as they lost 2-0 against Deveronvale in the Highland League at Grant Street Park in Inverness at the weekend.
Boss Iain Polworth has not had his troubles to seek with a range of injuries severely limiting his options.
This latest defeat came just a fortnight after ’Vale crushed the Lilywhites 5-0 in the William Hill Scottish Cup, the reason why the Merkinchers are idle this weekend as the competition’s second round takes centre stage.
It was a close contest though and the game changed on 63 minutes when the visitors were awarded a penalty after Martin Laing was judged to have fouled Connor Rennie in the box.
Martin Charlesworth made no mistake from the spot and the Banff side were 1-0 in front as he sent keeper Jamie Fraser the wrong way.
The gloss was added to the scoreline late on as Robert Morrice shot high into the net from close range after Clach didn’t deal with a corner kick.
Steve Paterson’s Formartine United still have a 100 per cent record thanks to their 3-0 home win against Rothes. They are only behind Brora Rangers on goal difference after the first eight fixtures thi season.
Wick Academy are two points behind the two pace-setters and came through a testing afternoon with a 5-2 win against battling Lossiemouth.
Inverurie Locos are fourth, but now eight points off top spot, following their 2-1 defeat at Buckie Thistle, who moved on to the 14-point mark.
Elsewhere, Fraserburgh eased to a 4-0 win against visitors Keith, champions Cove Rangers edged past Forres Mechanics 3-2 and Huntly and Turriff United shared four goals.
