Post Match Reaction: Fridge Disappointed To Lose Lead
A 4-1 defeat was not the start to the new Highland League season that Nairn County manager Les Fridge was hoping for when his side kicked of against Inverurie Locos at Station Park. And it looked as if it was going to be very different when the home side took the lead when Wayne Mackintosh tapped home a square pass from Shaun Kerr. But conceding a goal seemed to bring the visitors to life and they levelled things only two minutes later through Danny Milne. Then only three minutes into the second half, Locos had completed their comeback when they went in front for the first time in the afternoon when Craig Ross headed home. Neil Gauld put daylight between the sides to put the game all but beyond County before Locos sub Gary Nicol rounded off the scoring late on to secure the victory.
County boss Les Fridge admitted afterwards that he was disappointed to have lost the match, especially after watching his side take the lead. He said: "Locos started the game really well. We got the goal and then we relaxed which allowed them to get back into it.
"It was disappointing from our point of view with the four goals that we lost. we had chances to clear our lines at three of them and we should have done better. In the end, we were punished by a very good team."
He added: "We had to weather the storm a bit early on and managed to do that and got the goal which settled us down. But the manner in which we lost the goals was poor.
"We have a very young team and there is no hiding that fact. There will be inconsistencies and we lost our shape a bit when we were chasing the game. But all credit to Inverurie, they took their chances, worked hard and got the result."
Looking ahead to next week's Challenge Cup match with Cove Rangers, the manager was relishing the chance to get back on track. He said: "It is another big one next week when we have Cove Rangers here in the Challenge Cup. We'll re-group, work hard in training next week and see how it goes."