Post-Match Reaction: Manager Baffled by Loss
Nairn County manager Les Fridge admitted he was baffled by the friendly defeat to Bishopmill United in Elgin on Tuesday night.
County went down by two goals to one against their junior hosts despite having 32 attempts at goal throughout the 90 minutes to Bishopmill's five.
"We played a lot of nice football even though the park was really heavy and was practically unplayable."
He added: "That is the third pre-season in a row that we have played Bishopmill and we have beaten them 7-1 and 4-0 but we have never dominated them anywhere near as much as we did in this came. They couldn't get near us for most of the game and we had two shots cleared off the goal-line. Their goalkeeper had the game of his life, it was incredible."
Fridge said that the defeat was not going to cause panic in the camp a week before the action gets underway for real. He said: "I'm not too despondent. Overall, it was a great performance from us but a bad result. Every game of pre-season we have looked better and that was the best that we have played so far. There are a lot of positives to take
The manager included three trialists in his squad, who all saw action as they vie to win a permanant contract at Station Park. Glenn Main was already familiar to the small, loyal band of Nairn supporters who took in the game last night having already played against Stenhousemuir and Peterhead. He started on the right hand side of midfield before moving inside and then being substituted after 78 minutes. New faces Alan Grant played 38 minutes up front while former Clach man Gary Calvert was given a 33-minute run out playing in the right midfield position. Fridge revealed: "Gary Calvert has been training with us for a couple of weeks now, but he picked up an injury so this was the first chance we had to give him a run out.
"Alan Grant played for the Ross County under-19 side last season but was released by them following the first team's relegation from the First Division. We will get him in for a few weeks and see how it goes with both of them from there."
He added: "I thought Glenn Main did really well. He seems to be really enjoying things with us over the past few weeks and I intend to get a proper chat with him before the end of the week. It has been rather hectic recently with the games against Peterhead and Bishopmill so I haven't been able to sit down with him properly."
County now move on to face North Juniors Division One outfit Strathspey Thistle at the Jags' Seafield Park in Grantown on Saturday. The manager was hoping to have several of the first team regulars who missed out on Tuesday back for this final match of pre-season. John Campbell and Chris Finnigan are expected to be back while Iain Brooks could miss out on the match against his hometown team because of work commitments. Scott Graham and Neil MacDonald are minor injury doubts but Scott Nicholl will definitely miss out after going under the knife earlier in the week.
Meanwhile, County's North of Scotland Cup group stage match against Forres Mechanics has been confirmed as Tuesday July 31, kick off 8 pm. The second match away at Ross County will take place on either Tuesday August 14 or Wednesday August 15.