Livingston
6
It was the visitors who ran out comfortable winners in the end but they were made to work hard for their victory against a Nairn side who were full of running all evening. On this performance, Mark Proctor's boys will surely have a say in the destination of the First Division championship.
County lined up with Martin MacDonald, Steven Edwards and Martin Sanderson playing in a back three in front of John Campbell, while Brian Macleod and Scott Nicholl took up the wing back positions. Wayne Mackintosh, Duncan Jones and Neil Macdonald completed the midfield while Willie Barron and Iain Brooks played up front, Barron wearing the captain's armband in the absence of John MacAskill. There were also debuts for three of Les Fridge's five summer signings, as Shaun Kerr, Angus Lawrie and John Calder all appeared as second half substitutes.
Two minutes into the game, the visitors had their first sight of goal when a corner from the right was headed clear by the Nairn defence but only as far as Liam Fox. The ex-Inverness CT man could only lash his first time shot from the edge of the box over the crossbar though.
Fox was again at the heart of things for Livi and was inches away from breaking the deadlock when he latched onto a ball over the Nairn defence from a trialist but could only flash his low left-footed shot across goal and past the post.
A misunderstanding between Martin Sanderson and Nairn keeper Campbell almost led to the opening goal on the quarter-hour mark when the former Clach man attempted to head away a cross from the right with the goalie advancing from his line. The loose ball fell to Steven Craig but his first time volley was excellently blocked by a diving save from Campbell.
This only delayed the opening goal by six minutes though as a trialist played a low cross in from the right to the feet of Weir. He took one touch to set himself before lashing a low left-footed shot across Campbell and into the bottom of the Nairn net.
The Livi lead was doubled only five minutes later when James's in-swinging free-kick in from the right hand side was headed past Campbell by unfortunate Nairn defender Martin MacDonald in his attempt to make a clearance.
A touch of class from Craig saw Livingston add a third in the 37th minute. Campbell made a great save from a Livi trialist in the lead up to the goal, but the ball dropped to the feet of Weir. He fed former Don Craig on the right and he proceeded to delicately lift the ball over Campbell and into the net to give his side a three-goal half time advantage.
The closest Nairn came to grabbing a goal was when Brooks latched onto a long ball over the defence but his touch let him down and the ball trundled through to the Livi goalkeeper. (H-T 0-3).
County came out for the second half determined to put up more of a fight and it showed as they contained the visitors well and even looked to conjur up some attacks of their own.
The First Division side came close to adding a fourth in the 51st minute when new signing Marc Tinkler got his head on the end of a Davidson corner from the right but the ex-Leeds man could only glance his effort past the post.
County made forays towards the Livingston goal in the 65th minute when Barron's cross from the right was just taken off substitute Kerr's head by a defender with the goal gaping.
But the Division One outfit struck back by adding a fourth five minutes later. Scott Nicholl was caught in possession for Nairn on the right by Lunn and he then curled a delightful shot across Campbell and into the net from 22-yards.
Substitute Gregg Main then tried his luck for County when a Nicholl cross from the right was cleared to him but his first time, left foot effort in the 74th minute was blocked by the visiting defence.
The visitors then added a fifth in the 82nd minute as substitute goalkeeper John Calder was beaten when a long ball into the box was slid under him by Paul Shields.
The former Celtic man added his second of the night three minutes later when he headed home a Fox cross from the right.
There was time left for Nairn to go close once again. Brian Macleod swung in a deep cross from the left that was headed back across goal by sub Marc Macdonald at the back post. He picked out Kerr in the middle but his attempt to scramble the ball over the line was blocked by the sub keeper. (F-T 0-6).
Goals: 6
Shots on target: 9
Shots off target: 6
Corners won: 6
Offsides against: 1
Fouls conceded: 7
Woodwork hit: 0
Yellow cards: 0
Red cards: 0
Goals: 0
Shots on target: 2
Shots off target: 0
Corners won: 4
Offsides against: 6
Fouls conceded: 6
Woodwork hit: 0
Yellow cards: 0
Red cards: 0
1)John Campbell: 7
[30)John Calder 80]: 1
2)Neil MacDonald: 4
[12)Shaun Kerr 55]: 3
3)Martin Sanderson: 6
4)Steven Edwards: 5
5)Martin MacDonald: 5
6)Wayne Mackintosh: 6
7)Duncan Jones: 5
[14)Angus Lawrie 76]: 2
8)Scott Nicholl: 5
[16)Marc Macdonald 80]: 2
9)Willie Barron: 6
10)Iain Brooks: 6
[14)Gregg Main 71]: 3
11)Brian Macleod: 6
1)Mariusz Liberda: 7
[20)Trialist 79]: 2
2)Dave Mackay: 7
[12)Gary Miller 46]: 6
3) Craig James: 7
4)James McPake: 7
5)Marc Tinkler: 7
[17)Mark Lunn 67]: 6
6)Scott Mitchell: 7
[2)Dave Mackay 67]
7)Liam Fox: 9
[19)Darryl Smylie 46]: 6
8)Jakub Hottek: 8
[16)Murray Davidson 46]: 7
9)Steven Craig: 9
[14)Paul Shields 46]: 8
10)Trialist: 7
[7)Liam Fox 80]
11)Steven Weir: 7
[15)Tomas Pesir 40]: 7