Post Match Reaction: Nairn Start With Three Points
A 3-1 win at Fort William on Saturday ensured that Nairn County made the best possible start to the new Highland League season. At a blustery Claggan Park, Willie Barron put the visitors in front before Shaun Kerr's second double in as many games wrapped up the win. The only blotches on the County copybook were Martin MacDonald's second half sending off and Fort's late consolation goal.
"We came out for the second half and Martin MacDonald committed a second bookable offence and for 40 minutes we were down to 10 men and had to defend. They pushed three up front and came at as and for a 10 minute spell we looked like we had lost our shape a it but we sorted it out, looked quite solid and went on to get a third goal."
Fridge added: "Wayne Mackintosh and Steven Edwards in the middle of the park put in a great shift and the boys at the back defended well under pressure going into the wind for long spells.
"We came here to get three points and we've done it."
The manager also felt that defender Martin MacDonald had been hard done by. The ex-Brora man was booked in the first half after an off-the-ball incident and was then shown a second yellow minutes after half time for allegedly talking out of turn to the referee. Fridge said: "From what I can gather, he didn't say much to the referee. He said something along the lines of: "Any chance of giving us a break?". He didn't swear and he wasn't verbal but the referee booked him for it. We had to defend after that and we defended well."
Nairn now take on Forres Mechanics on Saturday at Station Park in the first round of the inaugaral Challenge Cup. Gordon Winton's men were defeated by County just one week ago in the North of Scotland Cup but Fridge insists that game will have no bearing on the next clash between the pair. He said: "Next Saturday will be a totally different game, I am quite sure of that. We'll just have to approach it in the same way that we have approached the last couple of games. We've had some good performances and scored some good goals and we'll be looking to take that into next week."
The Challenge Cup is a competition that has come in for some criticism as it replaces the former Qualifying Cup without the incentive of battling towards the Scottish Cup proper. Fridge said: "There are different ways to look at it. The fact that we have got the North of Scotland Cup going on at the same time, it might have been worth having this competition later on in the season or not at all. It just seems to be that there is an awful lot going on at the moment and we have got a couple of players suspended already and players could pick up injuries or knocks so it is going ot be tight on the squad."
Saturday's match saw Fridge's latest addition - Stephen Skinner, who has joined on loan from Ross County - play his second 90 minutes in a Nairn jersey. The manager said: "We've got him here on loan until January and we'll see how it goes. If everything goes ok, we'll look to extend it. He came in and has done well. He's a big strong boy and looks comfortable on the ball and he has played in the last two games and we have had two wins."