Conor Gethins notched his 200th goal for Nairn County in their 2-2 draw at home against Keith.
Nairn boss Steven Mackay felt a share of the spoils was the correct outcome after an action-packed 90 minutes.
He said: “Overall a draw was probably a fair result.
“We were way off the standards we have set, especially in the first half, and we were lucky to go in at half-time only 1-0 down.
“The second half was better, but their second goal was a fantastic strike.
“I’m delighted for Conor Gethins getting his 200th goal for us, he’s a fantastic striker in the Highland League and for this club.
“Knowing him he would have wanted to do it in a home win, but you can’t write these scripts.”
The moment Conor Gethins became only the second player in history to reach 200 Nairn County goals 🙌🏻 Full match highlights to come.#ncfc #nairncounty #ItsaNairnThing pic.twitter.com/pqiANkVu7N
— Nairn County FC (@NairnCounty) April 2, 2023
The Maroons broke the deadlock in the 24th minute when Liam Duncan was taken down inside the penalty area by Ross Tokely and the Keith forward dusted himself down to make no mistake with the resultant spot kick for his fourth goal of the season.
It was all-square 10 minutes after half-time when Scott Davidson capitalised to lash home from 12 yards.
Keith dug in and restored the lead with 65 minutes gone, skipper James Brownie hitting a belter from 15 yards into the roof of the net.
However, within seven minutes parity was restored when Dem Yunus was adjudged to have handled inside the area and Gethins duly converted the penalty although Keith custodian Craig Reid did get his hands to the ball.
Keith manager Craig Ewen said: “Across the group they worked their socks off and as a manager you can’t ask for more than that.
“We did really well in the first half, setting our stall out, and created other chances besides the goal.
“In the second half, we scored a beauty through James Brownie, and we felt unlucky having a penalty awarded against us.
“We would need to see it back.
“We fought on and showed great character late on.
“Our back three are aged 18, 20 and 20, and they were were very dogged, putting their bodies on the line.
“It’s a point on the board, and gets us going in the right direction.”
Wick Academy 0-1 Huntly
A Michael Clark header gave Huntly all three points in a 1-0 win away to Wick Academy with the Black and Golds moving up to seventh in the table.
Huntly are unbeaten in their last five trips to Harmsworth Par, but manager Allan Hale admitted it wasn’t the best of games.
He said: “I’ve delighted with the three points, that puts us over the 40-point mark.
“It’s a 90 minutes I won’t remember in a hurry.
“It was poor, end-of-season stuff and it wasn’t for the lack of effort of both teams.
“It was going to take something special to open the scoring and Michael did that with fantastic header and it capped another strong performance from him.”
The first half failed to produce quality in front of goal from either side and the best chance fell to Wick before the break when Marc MacGregor got in behind only for Fraser Hobday to thwart the attacker.
Massive congratulations to Richard Macadie who made his 600th appearance for Wick Academy in yesterdays match against Huntly. Here is ten minutes worth of Richard’s huge contribution to our club https://t.co/Qit8bBzqTO – we hope it does him justice ⚽️⚽️ pic.twitter.com/CcTjZXqQ7D
— Wick Academy FC (@WickAcademyFC) April 2, 2023
The only goal of the game came after 58 minutes. The in-form Ryan Sewell picked out out Huntly captain Michael Clark at the back post to net his third of the season with a powerful header.
In the 65th minute, Wick picked up their eighth red card of the season when Sean Munro was sent off by referee Alan Proctor for stamping on Brodie Allen.
Graeme Williamson prevented a second goal ten minutes later, saving low to deny Michael Dangana.
Williamson again kept the visitors out late on turning a Sewell shot round the post.
Wick’s winless run now extends to 12 games, and manager Gary Manson admitted the game lacked quality.
He said: “It was certainly not one for the purists. One header decided a game of few chances.”
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