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Nairn County forced to consider loan market to cope with injury ravaged squad


By Andrew Henderson

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Nairn County manager Ronnie Sharp may be forced to look for temporary reinforcements to bolster his injury-ravaged squad.

Nairn County manager Ronnie Sharp gives the orders...Elgin City FC (3) vs Nairn County FC (0) - Preseason Friendly - Borough Briggs, Elgin 17/07/2021...Picture: Daniel Forsyth..
Nairn County manager Ronnie Sharp gives the orders...Elgin City FC (3) vs Nairn County FC (0) - Preseason Friendly - Borough Briggs, Elgin 17/07/2021...Picture: Daniel Forsyth..

With Fraser Dingwall tearing his medial ligament in the warm-up before last Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to Deveronvale, six players are now on the treatment table at Station Park – including all of Nairn’s central defenders.

None of them are due back imminently, so the Wee County boss could look to make short-term signings in what would be an unexpected, but enforced, departure from Sharp’s usual recruitment tactic.

“We thought the squad was finished,” Sharp said.

“You don’t expect five or six injuries straight away.

“We’ve never really gone in for loaning players before, but it might become a necessity.

“Even Dylan Maclean, our goalkeeper, was struggling all through pre-season with a hand injury, he’s only just back now. He didn’t play any pre-season games.

“Usually we look to our reserve team, they’re a young team and we’ve taken a few up in this pre-season to bed them in, but they’re getting game time at the moment.”

Sharp had been hoping for an improved performance on last week’s North of Scotland Cup exit when they hosted Deveronvale, but it was a frustratingly similar story on Saturday.

“I got the same performance – lacklustre, off the pace,” he said.

“We never got the improvement we were looking for.”

“There are a lot of boys who have missed a lot of training, so whether they’re not up to speed I don’t know. It seems like that at the moment.

“Having injuries to so many key players has affected the way we play, that’s a major problem. I was hoping that boys coming in were going to step up, but at the moment that’s not happening.

“Defensively we’re making mistakes and they have cost us, but in the attacking areas we’re not converting the chances that we are getting. It’s the whole thing.”


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