Brian Macleod happy to get off to a winning start as Nairn County interim manager with victory over Lossiemouth in Highland League
Brian Macleod’s spell as Nairn County interim manager got off to a winning start with a 3-1 victory over Lossiemouth last weekend.
After testing Lossie goalkeeper Stuart Knight on several occasions in the first half, Nairn finally made the breakthrough 10 minutes after the restart when Scott Lisle slotted past him.
The visitors would equalise in the 66th minute at Station Park when Ross Paterson connected with a cross to convert.
However, Nairn pulled away late on with Andrew Greig putting the hosts back in front before Lisle scored his second of the afternoon in stoppage time.
“I’m pleased with the result,” Macleod reasoned.
“It was obviously important to get off to a good start, and we had spoken a lot over the last couple of weeks about that.
“It was frustrating that the Formartine game got called off a couple of weeks ago, so it was important to see everything come together on Saturday.
“I’m pleased with the win, and secondly I was pleased with the performance as I thought we played well in spells of the game.”
With the postponement of what was supposed to be Macleod’s first game in charge against Formartine, he had extra time to make any tactical tweaks to Nairn’s style of play.
Macleod felt he could see a difference after working with the players on the training ground, but admits he was cautious of trying to change too much too quickly.
“We tried to tweak how we play slightly, but it’s never an easy time of year to do that,” he explained.
“We’re a good bit into the season, and there are challenges around weather and facilities, so you’re trying to get that balance of not giving them too much information and changing things drastically in case it blows up in your face.
“At the same time, we wanted to tweak things to try and change our fortunes, so it was pleasing that on Saturday we managed to do everything we’ve been asking of the last couple of weeks.
“It certainly wasn’t an easy game, they made it difficult for us as we thought they would.
“In the first half their goalkeeper made three or four excellent saves to keep them in the game, so it was important we didn’t get frustrated and stayed patient.
“Our finishes in the second half didn’t give their goalie any chance at all, so it was pleasing that we were so clinical.”
Macleod and Nairn’s next challenge comes in the form of a trip to Keith in the Highland League this weekend, with the Wee County expecting to have the same squad of players available as they did against Lossie.