Nairn St Ninian take on Aberdeen junior football giants Culter in Domino’s Regional Cup final
NAIRN St Ninian are looking to make history and cause a huge upset by winning the Dominos Regional Cup for the first time.
The North Region Championship outfit are set to face North Region Premiership champions Culter in the final at Forest Park in Burghead on Saturday at 2pm.
Nairn St Ninian are looking to win the competition for the first time in their history and end their campaign with silverware.
Manager Stuart Finnie accepts Saints are going into the final as huge underdogs. But they have beaten North Region Premiership teams on their way to the final, including Sunnybank, Colony Park and Buchanhaven Hearts.
He says that the final will be their toughest test by far in the competition, but is confident they are capable of lifting the trophy at full time.
He said: “As far as I am aware it is the first time we have reached the Dominos Regional Cup final so it is quite an achievement for us.
“Everyone at the club is over the moon. It is great that we have got there, now we will look to go one step further and try and win the cup.
“It is going to be an incredibly difficult game as Culter have been so consistent over the last five years. When it comes to winning leagues and cups, they are always there or thereabouts every time.
“It doesn’t get much tougher, but we have to believe in our gameplan. We have to believe we can win, there is no point in us turning up and thinking because it is Culter nobody can beat them.
“We have to believe in ourselves and you never know.”
Reaching the Dominos Regional Cup final has ended a disappointing North Region Championship campaign for Nairn St Ninian.
After being relegated from the Premiership last season, they missed out on the promotion play-offs in the Championship as they finished in seventh place.
Finnie says a lack of consistency in the league campaign cost them a chance of promotion back to the top flight. But they are determined to put that disappointment behind them and use Saturday’s final as a benchmark for improvement next season.
He said: “It has been disappointing that we didn’t even make the play-offs this season.
“It has been down to a lack of consistency, as we know we can beat the best teams in the league and in the cup run we showed we can beat teams in the league above too.
“Our last game last season was away to Dyce and there was such a low feeling being relegated.
“But here we are a year later and we are in a cup final. If we can upset the odds and get the win, we can kick on for next season.
“There will be a good crowd at the final on Saturday, there was a lot of fans at the semi final, including Nairn County fans who were supporting us.
“The whole town will be behind us and I hope that we can do well.
“Reaching the cup final has kept the season going and has given everyone a good boost.”
Nairn St Ninian will be without Jack Anderson who is suspended and Oilver Brown is on holiday during the final.
