No complacency at Clachnacuddin going into Nairn St Ninian rematch
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Clachnacuddin Women will not be taking anything for granted against Nairn St Ninian this weekend after March’s back-and-forth cup clash.
Although Nairn St Ninian have struggled to pick up results against the top teams in the division in recent years, they have shown a marked improvement in 2022 and pushed Clach all the way in the opening round of the Highlands and Islands League Cup – with the Inverness outfit only winning 4–3 after extra time.
Confidence is high at Grant Street Park after last week’s 3–0 derby win over defending league champions ICT Development, but manager Rob Macleod is trying not to look too far ahead in the title race with tough challenges like Nairn still to come.
“I’m not underestimating anybody, because I’ve been keeping an eye on all the scores,” the Clach manager reasoned.
“Right now I’m watching Buckie in particular – not that I’m dismissing any other team.
“We came up against Nairn in the cup and they gave us a very good game that went right down to the wire.
“That could have ended another way as well, but we seem to be edging teams out and having that final touch that helps us out.
“I’ve got a good rapport with Nairn’s coach.
“We’ve had a couple of messages back and forth wishing each other good luck, but we know that it’s going to be another test for our girls.”
If Clach are going to have a successful 2022, they will be relying on Betty Ross continuing her scoring exploits.
Macleod is wary of putting too much pressure on Ross’ shoulders, though, and he is confident there is enough depth in the Clach ranks for everyone to contribute at some stage this season.
"We've tried not to rely on Betty too much," Macleod explained.
"It would be unfair to put that pressure on a young girl's shoulders, but thankfully we're getting goals from all over the park.
"We've had our centre back Fiona Maclean scoring a screamer from 25 yards out, and Eilidh Anderson scored from about 20-25 yards out this season too.
"We've got strength in depth – it's becoming more and more obvious that we've got that side to our game.
"After last weekend we had a couple of players that approached me. They were substitutes and we didn't put them on the field because of the way the game was going.
"When we went 3–0 up, we could possibly have thrown them on, but substitutions weren't really the way we were thinking with the way the game was going.
"We had to have a conversation with them and tell them that it's all about being part of a team, the team ethos, so I'm hopeful that they will stick around."
