Close
Locos perfect home record was ended with a narrow defeat to Nairn County. After a goalless first half, Paul Coutts gave the Railwaymen the lead from the spot early in the second period but the visitors hit back with three well taken goals. Calum Dingwall’s goal came too late for Locos to salvage anything from the game.
Milosz Ochmanski came back into the starting eleven having been unavailable for last week’s Scottish Cup tie, while Thomas Reid replaced the injured Greg Mitchell. Callum Duncan’s inclusion was the only other change to the team that progressed on penalties a week ago.
It was the Wee County who had the first effort through Scott Lisle before Locos began to dominate. Visiting keeper Dylan Maclean did well to block Duncan’s shot from close range before he spilled Cole Anderson’s dangerous free kick and was relieved that nobody in Fire and Coal could punish him.
Locos continued to probe. Lloyd Robertson fired narrowly over before Anderson again tested Maclean, who got down well to keep out his low shot before gathering the ball. Locos would have been disappointed not to have taken advantage of their superiority in the opening period, particularly as the visitors were showing that they did carry a threat on the occasions they got forward.
The breakthrough came a few minutes after the interval. Anderson cut in from the right and was driving across the box when he was brought down by Wayne Macintosh. Coutts made no mistake from the penalty spot. There was a sense that Locos could now take control of the game but they weren’t given the opportunity to do so as Andy Greig levelled just a couple of minutes later, curling a shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the box. It was a good finish but the Railwaymen will feel they should have prevented the opportunity.
Locos came close to regaining the lead on the hour mark as Dingwall’s free kick was sliced onto his own bar by Lisle. Almost immediately, Nairn got their second when Callum Maclean finished left footed from near the penalty spot. Substitute Kacper Bednarowski thought he had restored parity with a smart finish from Aidan Wilson’s pass, but the offside flag denied him a first senior goal for the club.
With twenty minutes remaining, County added a third to take a firm grip on proceedings. Greig’s cross from the left looked to have been over hit but Matthew Wright arrived beyond the back post to volley home.
Locos threw everything at the visiting defence to get back into the game but Nairn were resilient and Maclean saved well from Daniel Agnew and Anderson. Dingwall did beat the keeper from close range at the death but it proved too late as, despite managing a couple more promising attacks, Locos weren’t able to find a leveller.
This was undoubtedly a disappointment, particularly given how strong Locos have been at Harlaw Park this season, but it’s not a result, or performance, that will have Dean Donaldson pressing the panic button. The manager was pleased that his team kept pushing until the end, saying “We’re always going to have days like this. There’s no rhyme or reason to it, we’ve got such a young squad” he said “There’s ways to win and ways to lose. If you lose the game then you want to lose it fighting, and that’s what we did.”
Locos are back on the road next week, travelling to Grantown to take on Strathspey Thistle.
