Nairn County reserves will aim to keep their hopes of silverware alive when they host Alness United in the North Caledonian Cup quarter-final this weekend.
County are 12th in the league table, seven points ahead of bottom side Bonar Bridge but having played four more games.
Having been disappointed with his side’s showing this season, manager Stuart Finnie hopes a cup run can spark momentum for the closing stretch of the campaign.
Finnie said: “This is our season. If we don’t win on Saturday there are no more cup competitions left, and it’s just about trying to pick up points in the league.
“There’s still a realistic chance of winning something here, so that’s what we would like to do.
“It’s all about winning games, and we have not won enough this season.
“Truthfully, I don’t think our league position shows how well we have actually played in some games.
“We have been really unlucky in some games, and deserved more points than we have.
“The league table doesn’t lie and we need to be better.
“It’s a winnable tie, and that’s the way we’ve got to look at it.
“At the same time, we’ve got to go out and work our tails off and try to get through to the next round.”
New era for Alness
Alness will have Robert Mitchell in temporary charge, after manager Robert MacCormack stepped down to pursue another role within football.
The club can confirm that First Team Head Coach Robert McCormack has left the club with immediate effect. We would like to place our immense gratitude and thanks to Robert for his time at the club and wish him all the best in his new role within football pic.twitter.com/8s0Efkb9yx
— Alness United FC (@AlnessUnitedFC) February 1, 2023
The two sides have a win apiece from the two league meetings so far, with Nairn winning 3-2 at home in November before going down 4-3 at Dalmore Park the following month.
Finnie added: “The team we beat them with at home was our own squad, and it was a really good performance.
“When they beat up there, we had a couple of first team boys playing and it was a really disappointing performance. We had a stronger team, but still got beaten.
“At the end of the day it doesn’t matter who you are playing, you can’t take anything for granted.
“I was surprised to see that Robert had left as he has been a mainstay up there.
“I don’t know what to expect, or what they will have squad-wise, but regardless it’s going to be tough.
“They are quite free-scoring, so we can’t make mistakes like we did last Saturday or we will get punished for it.”
Nairn had been on track to claim a point against leaders Loch Ness last weekend, with two quickfire goals from Liam Taylor and Allan Macphee securing a 5-3 win for Shane Carling’s men.
⚫️ RESULT ⚫️
We came away with the three points today. Two weeks without a game and a few debutants making their first appearance.
Goals:
Allan Macphee ⚽️⚽️⚽️
Liam Taylor ⚽️⚽️#FORZALOCHNESS pic.twitter.com/ScmJMqA64B— Loch Ness Football Club (@LochNessFC) January 28, 2023
Finnie was left to rue what could have been, adding: “We played really well against Loch Ness. I don’t think we were expecting to run them that close, and I don’t think they were expecting us to run them that close either.
“There were loads of positives to take from it, but at the same time we let ourselves down with the mistakes we made.
“It wasn’t really until we saw the highlights that we realised how bad the goals we conceded were.
“We came off the park thinking we had played really well, but had we cut those mistakes out we should have got something out of the game.
“Their coaching staff intimated to us after the game that they thought the same.”
Top two meet in quarter-final action
First will face second at Grant Park, when holders St Duthus host Loch Ness.
Inverness Athletic will be boosted by their midweek victory over Golspie Sutherland when they make the trip to Invergordon.
In the other quarter-final tie, Golspie host Halkirk United.
In the league, Clachnacuddin face Orkney at Alness Academy, while Bonar Bridge v Fort William is off due to a waterlogged pitch.
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