Manager says Nairn County have to take Scottish Cup exit on the chin
NAIRN County manager Ross Tokely says they will have to take their Scottish Cup first round exit on the chin and look to improve their form when they head to Inverurie Loco Works on Saturday.
Nairn fell at the first hurdle of the Scottish Cup as they went down to a 3-1 defeat against Clachnacuddin in Inverness on Saturday.
Things started brightly for Nairn when they took the lead after two minutes.
A long ball from Kenneth Mackenzie found Ben Barron who beat his marker and charged towards goal before firing a low drive past Daniel Rae.
Clachnacuddin piled on the pressure for the majority of the first half but were frustrated at being unable to create any real chances which tested Nairn goalkeeper Dylan Maclean.
Barron came close to doubling Nairn’s advantage just before half time when he was allowed to unleash a ferocious strike from the edge of the box. But it was well saved by Rae.
However, Clachnacuddin levelled the match seven minutes into the second half when an Allan Macphee cross from the right wing found James Anderson unchallenged to fire home from six yards out.
The hosts then took the lead in the 62nd minute when a neat passage of play started by Macphee found Troy Cooper in the box to set up Anderson to score his second of the game.
The visitors were then reduced to 10 men midway through the second half when Callum Maclean was sent off when he picked up his second yellow card after fouling Connor Bunce at the edge of the box.
Bunce came close to making it 3-1 with 10 minutes remaining when he managed to get a shot on goal which Maclean did well to parry away.
Clachnacuddin killed the game off in injury time when Alan Pollock brought down Lewis Mackenzie in the box and Anderson fired home the penalty to complete his hat trick.
Tokely felt Nairn didn’t deserve to win the match and is now looking for his team to bounce back when they head to Inverurie on Saturday.
He said: “I thought we weren’t great the whole game to be honest. We scored early doors but never got into it the whole game. I thought that we comfy in the first half, but in the second half we never came out at all and lost two really disappointing goals.
“It was a disappointing day where things started well and then Callum got sent off and we didn’t defend properly I thought the referee was a bit card happy in the first half.
“But overall I didn’t think that we deserved to win the game.
“It is hard going but we will take it on the chin.”
