Manager Interview: Fridge Looking Forward To A Key Month
Eight games have passed since Nairn County started their competitive season back at the end of July with a North of Scotland Cup first round win over Lossiemouth. Since then, the team have progressed to the final of that competition and are sitting pretty in fourth position in the Highland League table but were on the receiving end of a narrow Challenge Cup defeat to Cove Rangers. With a potentially massive couple of weeks ahead for the club with that final against Inverness CT and the first round of Scottish Cup taking place within six days of one another, Nairn County FC Online took the opportunity
He said: "It's still quite early days yet and we have been beaten twice already, by Inverurie in the league and Cove in the (Challenge) cup. To be honest, I think we should have won the Cove game and it was a couple of soft penalties at an important time of the game which killed us that day.
"Since then we've played Forres, Rothes and Clach and they can all sort of be classed as local derbies with them all being north sides so they are never easy games and Saturday's game there against Clach was always going to be a difficult game with everything that has happened there recently. But if we can just approach each game in the same way as we have been doing, keep working hard and doing the good things while not put ourselves under pressure and not make many mistakes then hopefully we will do quite well."
This Saturday County take on Keith in the league before their
He added: "We're very fortunate that this will be our third final in four years but finals don't come along very often to any team. Very rarely do teams get in a lot of finals so you have to make the most of them when you do.
"At the moment, it's been a big month just gone past. But it's going to be another big month or an maybe an even bigger month coming up. We've got Keith - who are just above us in the league, then the cup final and then the Scottish Cup. It's a lot to look forward to and it's great for the club."
County will be looking to retain their impressive recent form when they take on undefeated Keith at home on Saturday and give themselves a boost before the cup final. Fridge's men have netted 15 goals in their last four outings but the manager revealed his sole concern is getting the win in the bag come the end of each 90 minutes no matter how it comes about. He said: "Keith won the league two years ago and they are always a strong side. They are big, physical and well organised as most of the Aberdeenshire teams are. It will be a very difficult game for us but as for racking up the goals, I am not too fussed about that. It is always nice to score the goals but the main aim is to get the win and get the points on the board.
"We went to Rothes last week and had a very hard game and this will be another hard game, of that there is no doubt. We'll be the underdogs and that will be a strange one for us I suppose because we are at home. But if we can just continue what we have been doing like working hard and playing the way we are with a bit of confidence which we have been then who knows."