Nairn County can think big in cup competitions
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GORDON McNab is convinced Nairn County’s talented young set have what it takes to cause a cup upset this weekend – despite recent troubles in front of goal.
The Wee County visit big-spending Rothes in the Highland League Cup first round knowing they need to rediscover a scoring touch, having hit the net just seven times in the last seven league games.
Ronnie Sharp’s team remain a healthy seventh in the league on the strength of a bright start, but have drawn a blank in their last two outings.
Experienced midfielder McNab, who starred for the Speyside hosts earlier in his career, knows the lack of a natural goalscorer is problematic.
But the 30-year-old stressed: “At Nairn, we’re always going to be up against that financial muscle elsewhere in the league at clubs like Rothes.
“But Ronnie has done a good job in bringing together a good, young team with real potential.
“If we can keep those boys together, you don’t know what could happen, especially with cup runs. We want to do well in the league and we have, but that takes consistency and goals.
“Especially in the cups there is always the chance of a really good run when you have talented young players like we do.”
Nairn County were flying in August and beat Rothes 2-1 away, before creating a stir by defeating title tips Brora Rangers at Station Park.
McNab acknowledged: “We got off to a really good start and our general performances have remained good, but we’ve lacked that killer instinct.
“We haven’t been conceding many.
“But if we’re going to progress past Rothes, we’ll have to be better in front of goal. “Hopefully we can bounce back from the last few games.
“At the moment we don’t actually have a real out-and-out striker as such, so we need to get goals from different areas of the park.
“I’m trying to chip in where I can and get my own goal tally up.”
McNab, who has also played for Clach, Forres, Huntly and Wick, added: “Rothes is a great club with a lot of ambition. “Ross Jack coming in has done a really good job, as you’d expect from a manager of his calibre. They’ve turned the corner with some good results. I arrived at Mackessack Park as that financial change was happening, raising standards, and that’s all credit to the board.”
