Night and day as Nairn St Ninian pick up first victory in North Junior Super League
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MANAGER Keith Mason was pleased to see Nairn St Ninian put their nightmare start to the North Junior Super League behind them with an excellent 4-2 win over Deveronside on Tuesday night.
The Saints started their campaign off last Saturday with a poor 3-0 defeat against East End in Aberdeen.
However, Mason says he got the reaction he wanted against Deveronside, as they cruised to a 3-0 lead at half-time.
Sloppy errors allowed Deveronside to score twice in between Kyle Whyte’s penalty midway through the second half.
But Mason said the three points never looked in doubt as he looks for his players to continue that good form at Banchory St Ternan tomorrow.
“It was night and day compared to East End where it looked like we went into our shell and didn’t want to play the ball about,” he said.
“But against Deveronside we pressed high and played the ball when we wanted to.
“Early doors, I thought that there was only ever going to be one winner.
“So I am delighted to get our first three points.”
Despite being pleased with the attacking intent of his team, Mason says work still needs to be done defensively.
“The only thing is the two goals we conceded.
“Going forward we did very well, but we do need to keep the back door shut.”
With the league not taking place last season in favour of regionalised competitions, Mason says he is still in the dark about teams from the North-east. But he says repeat performances such as Deveronside on Tuesday night will not give him too many worries about opponents.
“We don’t know anything about these teams this season and are going in blind when we face them.
“But if we play like we did against Deveronside with confidence like that, we will give ourselves a bit of hope in any game.”
Nairn went in front 3-0 through Calum Neil,
Robert MacDonald and Colin Mason. Deveronside pulled one back through Owen Murison, but Whyte’s penalty made it 4-1 with John McLeay netting a consolation.
