Post-Match Reaction: Boys Were First Class
Two goals late on handed Nairn County a dramatic win at Harlaw Park as Les Fridge's side dented Inverurie Locos' title hopes a damaging blow.
The home side led when Mark Smith fired through a forest of legs on 64 minutes after several of his teammates had seen shots blocked in the build up.
But with the hosts looking to see the match out, County turned the game on its head to claim victory. Firstly, Glenn Main continued his fine scoring form when he linked up well with Brian Macleod before
The hosts were rocked by Nairn's leveller but their evening was about to get worse. With Dave Cormie's men throwing bodies forward in search of a vital second goal, it was at the other end that the winning goal was netted. Substitute Marc Macdonald delivered an inviting cross into the box for Lewis MacKinnon to bullet a header beyond Reid and hand Les Fridge a first league win at Harlaw Park as a manager.
After the final whistle, Fridge said: "In the first half, I thought neither side looked like scoring to be honest. Both teams cancelled each other out and there was not a lot happening.
"This is our fifth game in a fortnight so we started the second half a wee bit sluggishly. That meant Inverurie came more and more into the game because we were second to everything and looked tired. I thought our performance was quite similar to Saturday where we did not play that well."
He added: "But we changed things about in the last 10 minutes. If we were going to lose 1-0, we may as well lose two or three nil. So we changed it about by pushing another man up front and having a right
"It was a great goal by Glenn Main for the first. He's been on fire recently and he is growing in confidence. That's five goals for him now in just a couple of weeks and this one was a great move with Brian Macleod. There were about three one-twos, he was played through and it was a really calm finish."
After equalising so late on, Fridge did not want his side to settle for a point. "Then it was just a case of keep going," he explained. "We are one of those teams who would either win it or lose it in the last couple of minutes. We can be a wee bit unpredictable like that. But I can't fault them (the players) for their effort and attitude.
"It was never-say-die attitude at the end and young Marc Macdonald delivered a great cross and it was a great header by Lewis MacKinnon in the box.
Fridge had a number of absentees because of work commitments including John Campbell, Scott Nicholl Billy Horne and Scott Graham to go along with the injured Shaun Kerr.
The manager added: "Inverurie is a difficult place to come on a Wednesday night because it is hard enough coming here on a Saturday. We have got boys missing today who could not get off work. But the boys who came in were first class."
Fridge now has just three days to prepare his side for Saturday's league match. He commented: "We have a big game on Saturday with Fraserburgh at home. Then obviously we are here (Inverurie) in the cup a week later.
"We are not working off a big squad. We have had a couple of boys change their jobs and that has limited their availability for us. So we are working off a tight squad and I had two players who were playing in the youth team on Sunday on the bench tonight. But we are not moaning about it and just looking to get on with it."