Transfer News: Nairn Bolster Midfield With Addition Of Rae
Nairn County have added to their ranks ahead of the trip to Deveronvale in the Highland League on Saturday with the signing of midfielder Harry Rae.
The former Clach man has arrived at Station Park on a deal until the end of the season with a view to an extension and comes straight into contention for the weekend's match at Princess Royal Park as Les Fridge looks for his side to bounce back immediately from last week's disappointing Scottish Cup exit. And it could prove to be a baptism of fire for the new man as the Vale sit at the top of the table only one point ahead of Nairn.
Announcing the deal to Nairn County FC Online, Fridge said: "Harry was at Clach a couple of years ago and recently he has been playing in the North Caledonian League. He came to our attention because he is friendly with Shaun Kerr so we got him in to do some training and take a look at him. We've now decided to add him to the squad.
"With us losing Johnathan Holland we were looking to add another player in there to bring some more competition for places."
Rae becomes only the second signing Nairn have made since the end of last season behind defender Billy Horne who joined in the summer. Fridge added: "I have always said that I won't sign players for the sake of it and I think I have proved that now. I know what I want and which specific areas I want cover in.
"We've got a lot of competition in the middle of the park and I have various players who can play centrally or in wider areas. Midfield is probably the biggest out and out area of players whether you play with a four or five across the middle so you need to be strong in there. Like I say, we lost Johnathan and now we've brought in Harry. He'll have to bide his time but he will get his chance and then it's up to him."
With County's scheduled opponents Brora Rangers now having to play a Scottish Cup replay on Saturday, Nairn now travel to take on Deveronvale in a match re-arranged from early in the season. The Banffers are the only side County have not beaten since Les Fridge took over as manager in the summer of 2004. The closest the manager came to that elusive victory was in his first year in charge when Nairn led 2-1 with five minutes remaining but in the end lost 3-2. The boss added: "In the four years since I've been here, Deveronvale have probably been the top side in the Highland League. They are there or there about year in, year out. They have always been a big, strong, difficult side.
"I remember that game here (at Station Park) a couple of years ago when we were 2-1 up with five minutes to go and their winner came from a mistake by the linesman.
"I don't really look at these records. I go into every game to try and win it. They (Vale) will be looking to bounce back from what was a bad result for them but we will also be looking for a reaction from last week. It's always a difficult place to play and a hard place to go but we'll be looking to get ourselves back on track."
Last month County racked up the victories in the lead up to the North of Scotland Cup final and Fridge does not foresee any problems motivating his side for this one despite the carrot of a final appearance at the end of the month no longer looming. He said: "It shouldn't be a problem. At the end of the day we'll just have to see because it may be the case but time will tell and we'll be looking for a positive reaction."
Captain Willie Barron, midfielder Andrea Coletto and defender Martin MacDonald should all come back into contention for Saturday's game but a hand injury rules out top scorer Shaun Kerr.