Paul Lawson says Banks o’ Dee’s R Davidson (Banchory) Highland League Cup rout against Nairn County has given him and co-manager Josh Winton a selection headache.
Dee progressed to the last eight of the League Cup with a 6-0 victory at Station Park.
Next Sunday they take on Huntly in the Evening Express Aberdeenshire Cup final, but according to Lawson selecting a team won’t be easy after the display against Nairn.
Lawson said: “You hope the guys are playing to try to get themselves in the team for the final, but we didn’t want to talk about that before the game.
“It was a case of get through the tie and also get a reaction to Wednesday’s defeat (to Deveronvale).
“It always helps putting in a performance like this and it will be difficult picking the team next Sunday for sure.
“You want a headache in terms of picking the team, it’s difficult and there will be boys disappointed.
“But against Nairn the subs coming on showed you can still add to the performance, Andy Hunter was excellent when he came on and Chris Antoniazzi scored two goals.”
After back-to-back defeats Lawson was pleased to see Dee return to winning ways against Nairn.
He added: “It was a very pleasing, we were dominant from the off.
“Nairn had a spell early in the second half, but other than that we were excellent all over the park.
“It was pleasing to get a reaction. Some of the goals were outstanding and in our general play we looked hungry, which I thought was missing on Wednesday.”
Match action
Dee started purposefully and Wee County goalkeeper Lewis Munro tipped over Iain Vigurs’ strike from 10 yards before the visitors took the lead on 14 minutes.
From a Vigurs free-kick on the right the ball was headed down and referee Stuart Randall penalised Fraser Dingwall for handball. After pretty muted home appeals Liam Duell fired the resultant penalty into the top left corner.
Nairn struggled to create anything of note in the first half and in the 39th minute Dee doubled their lead.
Duell’s header down was seized upon by MacLeod, as Dingwall slipped, and MacLeod finished into the top left corner from 14 yards.
At the start of the second period the hosts had a decent spell. Kenny MacInnes’ free-kick from the right broke for Matthew Wright, who failed to hit the target from close range.
Then Jack Walker headed straight at Daniel Hoban from an Andrew Greig corner and Wright lashed a shot over from the edge of the box.
Dee keep going
But it wasn’t long before Banks o’ Dee took complete control of the contest.
Just shy of the hour mark Max Alexander came in off the left flank and curled a superb right-footed shot from 20 yards into the top right corner to make it 3-0.
On 70 minutes Alexander crossed from the left and Duell rattled the crossbar from 12 yards, but seconds later the fourth goal did arrive.
Michael Philipson, Alexander and Andy Hunter combined to tee up Vigurs inside the area and he drilled his shot into the bottom left corner from 10 yards.
In the 82nd minute it got worse for Nairn. Sub Angus Dey lost possession in midfield which allowed Hunter to drive forward and despite appearing to be crowded out he played the ball across from the right of the area for fellow sub Chris Antoniazzi to score.
With the last kick of the ball Antoniazzi made it six with a clinical finish from the edge of the box.
Tokely pulls no punches
Nairn boss Tokely said: “We’ve got that performance in us and that’s the worry, we’re really inconsistent and I don’t know what I’m getting from game to game, which is an issue.
“We didn’t play any football, we didn’t look like scoring and the defending wasn’t great.
“I said at half-time to get the next goal and see what happens, but we could have played until they switched the lights off and we still wouldn’t have scored.
“After half-time we gave it a little go, but the quality on the ball needs to be better and once the third goes in we just lay down.
“A lot of people have got to take responsibility, I can’t play the game for them. In terms of defending, not just the back four and Lewis Munro, but the whole lot of them, should go home and have a right good look at themselves.
“We’ve got to take it on the chin and take responsibility for it, there are a lot of good people at this club who volunteer and put a lot of effort and work in.
“What they saw wasn’t great and I’m responsible for that, but I’m asking them (the players) to take responsibility for that as well.”
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