Post-Match Reaction: Fridge Delighted With Semi Final Win
Nairn County will take on Inverness CT in the North of Scotland Cup Final next month after overcoming Rothes in the semi final at Station Park last night.
Les Fridge's side stormed into a 4-0 first half lead to settle the tie as a contest before rounding off the scoring with a Shaun Kerr beauty after the break to make it three finals in five attempts for the manager.
Kerr got the ball rolling when he struck inside the opening few minutes to set the tone for the rest of the
Rothes battled on in the second half as they looked to at least get on the score sheet and were denied what appeared to be a definite penalty by referee Ronnie Wright. It wasn't to matter though as Nairn struck again when Kerr smashed home a powerful Jones cross with a thunderous volley to round off his hat trick.
Les Fridge was obviously delighted at the prospect of leading his side out at yet another final. He said: "Before the game, we were 90 minutes away from a cup final so we told the boys to go out and put on a performance and get themselves into the final because it was in their own hands. We were 4-0 up at half time and that can make it difficult in the second half because you can take your foot off the pedal a wee bit. But I thought we passed the ball around really well and I thought the fifth goal was unbelievable. There were six or seven passes leading up to it, a great delivery and the volley from
The manager added: "It was a geat night for passing the ball about and we are a passing team. I thought we did that really well and got the win which in the end was thoroughly deserved."
With the limelight likely to fall on Kerr after his maiden treble for the club, Fridge was also keen to highlight the performance of the rest of his team. He said: "Taking nothing away from Shaun, I thought Gregg Main was outstanding for us tonight as was Scotty Graham as well. The boys at the back performed well too and that is our third clean sheet in a row. All in all, it was great for us to get to another cup final so we can't complain."
County displayed a lethal touch in front of goal during their first half goal blitz in which they managed to only create five chances, but score four of them. The manager said: "I'll take that. one thing about us in the games we have played so far is that we are creating a lot of chances. Even in the second half it will be interesting to see how many shots on goal we had because young Gregg (Main) alone had three or four efforts, Neil MacDonald had one and so did Duncan Jones. But regardless of that, we've now made three finals in four years and it's great to be there again."
County will now take on Inverness CT in the final at Grant Street Park. The match will be played on Sunday September 21 giving Caley Thistle the opportunity to field a stronger team than the one they have played in the previous rounds of the competition. Fridge said: "It was the same set of circumstances in our last cup final which we lost to Ross County. We will be playing against a full-time team and whether it's younger boys or not, they are still full-time professionals. We'll just have to wait and see."
Rothes will have an instant opportunity to extract some revenge on Nairn for this demolition job when County travel to Speyside on league duty this Saturday. Fridge added: "As I've said before, it will be two different games. There was a lot to play for tonight with a cup final place at stake so I expect the league game to be slightly different. Obviously we'll be away from home and Rothes will have home advantage and I'm sure they'll want to put things right on Saturday."