Post-Match Reaction: Nine Could Miss Quarter Final
A Glenn Main hat-trick at Rothes helped Nairn County to progress to the quarter final of the Highland League Cup. But manager Les Fridge had little time to reflect on the first round win as he prepares his team for tomorrow's last eight clash against Deveronvale at Station Park.
County took the lead when Rothes defender Steven Sim put through his own net following some goalmouth confusion caused by a Gregg Main corner. But despite Nairn's dominance, the home side levelled when Kevin Shortreed turned home Mike Smith's mis-hit shot.
Main then struck for the first time to put County 3-1 up before all but securing his side's place in the next round with his second of the evening soon after. Rothes did pull one back but that man Main struck again to complete his treble and put Nairn 5-2 before Michael Dunn's late consolation for The Speysiders rounded off the scoring.
Fridge was pleased to see his team progress and felt they were comfortably ahead throughout the evening. Speaking to Nairn County FC Online, he said: "Up until when it was 4-1, it was a very good performance from us. I thought we were cruising then but we went on to lose a couple of cheap goals which made the scoreline look a little different and made life a little bit more difficult for us. But I don't think we were ever in any danger."
The boss had praise for goal hero Main, who now has four goals in two games after breaking his duck for the club only last Saturday. "I've been saying for the last couple of weeks that he (Main) is growing in confidence and he is fully deserving of all the accolades and the goals
Fridge now leads his side into his third quarter final in five seasons having beaten Buckie Thistle on penalties and Inverurie Locos after extra time in previous years. The manager has doubts over Willie Barron - who missed Wednesday night's win with an injury picked up last Saturday - Callum Donaldson, Wayne Mackintosh, Gregg Main, Steven Edwards and David Hind who are all struggling with knocks. Meanwhile, Chris Finnigan, Scott Graham and Gary Black will definitely miss out. "We'll just have to wait and see what happens come tomorrow," he said. "Wednesday night was a very physical game and it was something of a scrap. We did expect that going there but it means we do not have a lot of time to recover. It's not like playing just on Saturdays when we have a week to recover from knocks. We got back quite late and then boys had to get up the next morning to do a day's work. So from that point of view, it doesn't give us a lot of time to recover but we just have to get on with it."
It was four weeks ago when County met Vale at Station Park on league duty and were pegged back in the last couple of minutes to draw 2-2 after holding a two-goal lead. "We played really well that day but we lost a couple of bad goals again which has cost us dearly throughout this season. We are scoring lots of goals and creating lots of chances. We just have to be a bit more switched on against the so-called better teams."