Clydebank 7
Nairn County 1
Friendly

Match Report

As far as pre-season friendlies go this was a fantastic game of football. Despite the final result Nairn County played their part in a very open game, especially in the first half, that produced an absolute barrowload of goalscoring chances. Nicky Little had a welcome return to his best form by netting a hat-trick and new signing from Drumchapel Amateurs Connor Higgins also grabbed a treble in 11 minutes after coming on from the bench. His finishing was right out of the top drawer and could be an exciting acquisition if this is what we can expect from him.

It would take all day to describe all the shots at goal, but suffice to say the Bankies took the game straight to County and spurned umpteen chances in the opening quarter of an hour.

After failing to make the breakthrough, the visitors took the lead through the impressive Andrew Greig. He ran on to a slide rule pass from Gethins and diverted the ball past Donnelly for an excellent goal.

The period after the goal was Nairn’s best spell in the match. Donnelly had to react quick to save from Davidson who was put through with a defence splitting pass.

The Bankies hit back and McKinlay had the ball in the net after 25 minutes only for the “goal” to be ruled offside. Then, Nicky Little hit the bar from a Gallacher cross.

The equaliser finally arrived after 38 minutes from the penalty spot. Nicky Little and a defender challenged for a high ball, and it was hard to see what the problem was though apparently a hand may have been used. The linesman brought the offence to the refs attention. After missing three penalties in pre-season this one was put away. Nicky Little scoring in the keepers bottom left corner.

Once Nicky Little volleyed in at the near post after 54 minutes from a Gallacher cross it was a case of how many. Though, it has to be said that Nairn had two cracking chances to score while it was still one all.

Little netted his hat-trick with 65 minutes on the clock from a training ground corner kick which the Bankies captain finished off by smashing the ball low into the net

The visitors case was well and truly closed just five minutes later when McNab was injured and with all substitutes on the pitch, Nairn had to complete the match with just ten men. The ref really needs to have a look at himself here. He should have allowed County to bring on one of their substituted players, even if it is not in the rule book.

Within a couple of minutes, Ciaran Mulcahy scored the fourth at the second attempt when he looped a header over MacLean.

The last quarter of an hour was the Connor Higgins show where he grabbed himself a hat tick in short order. The first was a cracker from 25 yards that the keeper had no chance with. His second was from the edge of the box when he pounced on a poor clearance to rifle the ball low into the corner of the net, and the third came after an incredible series of shots. The County goal couldn’t escape this barrage and Higgins supplied the deadly finish from ten yards to complete the scoring.

This was the Bankies best performance in the pre-season period. There are still one or two things to tighten up on as County had their moments. However, this was the strongest starting eleven we have seen so far and there are definitely a number of positions in the team that appear to be up for grabs. This level of competition should hopefully drive standards up and propel the club to success this season.