Nairn County manager Ronnie Sharp holding out hope that veteran striker Conor Gethins will stick around Station Park long enough to reach 200 goals in black and yellow
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Conor Gethins is closing in on a magnificent double century of goals for Nairn County – with manager Ronnie Sharp just hoping the veteran Irishman sticks around long enough to complete the feat.
Gethins rolled back the years on Saturday with a fantastic four-goal show in a 6–0 trouncing of hosts Turriff United.
It was another fine display on the road from injury-ravaged Nairn, who seem to have saved their best for away journeys this season.
Gethins, with 11 goals in the campaign so far, needs 19 more to hit the 200-mark in this, his second spell at Station Park, having returned from a five-year sojourn at Formartine United.
Sharp wouldn’t put it past the former Ross County and Finn Harps striker to achieve that landmark tally in the current campaign, but admits it is more likely the 38-year-old would need extra time.
As yet, it remains uncertain whether Gethins will extend his stay beyond the summer.
Sharp stressed: “Conor has been playing really well, even though we’ve been struggling with injuries.
“He is in double figures already approaching the halfway point in the season, but it would be quite a big ask for him to hit the 200-mark for the club this season.
“We’ll see how he is. I don’t know what his plans are beyond the summer and he is only signed for a year.
“He’ll know himself if he wants to carry on playing or not and he’s just taking it as it comes, game-by-game.
“A big thing for us is his influence on the younger players around him and hopefully it is rubbing off on them. That was the plan when we brought him back here.
“He’s got good experience and a great knowledge of the game. If you can’t learn from Conor Gethins, who can you learn from?”
Nairn have little respite amid their injury crisis, with a trip to Buckie Thistle looming tomorrow evening.
Scott Davidson suffered a thigh injury relapse in the Turriff victory while one of Saturday’s other scorers, Seamus McConaghy, will undergo an operation this week.
In all, Nairn will have nine players missing against a team that beat them 3–0 10 days earlier in the League Cup, and Sharp added: “We know how tough it is going to be and we’re down to the bare bones at the moment.
“Scottie had to come off again on Saturday and is going to need a few weeks out. Seamus will be out for a good while.
“It has really left us threadbare with just 13 fit players.
“We saw Buckie first hand a couple of weeks ago where we did well in the first half. In the second half they got on top of us. We’ll have to go there and battle again.
“We’re picking up a bit now after a slow start and we can hopefully kick on in the second half of the season, but we need to get a few players back.
“It doesn’t look like we’ll get any back probably before Christmas. It could be January before we’re starting to see light at the end of the tunnel.”
