Nairn 1 Keith 1 - Pictures

It was good to be back for some action at Station Park after all the call-offs of recent weeks. In search of soccer some of the faithful had gone through to see Forres v Formartine on Wednesday night. There you could behold the surreal spectacle of County fans cheering on the Can-Cans to victory. Forres duly won and leapfrogged Nairn in the league but it’s all about games in hand now and we’ve lots more than Forres. The real reason for the joy that night  was that Formartine are title challengers ahead of Nairn and the set-back they suffered at Forres helps us immensely.

There seemed to be absences on the terraces today as, no doubt, some will have been seduced away to Dingwall for the big Highland Premiership derby. There were enough home fans to create the usual atmosphere though and the sun even shone for short periods. There was a nervousness abroad as County pressed forward but failed to find the net. Keith were not without some attacking moves themselves but not on the scale of the County challenge.  The visitors succeeded  in getting  plenty of players behind the ball as Nairn moved forward with their characteristic flair.

It was to all go off-beam for the Wee County as the assistant referee confirmed to his gaffer that Andy Neill had pushed a player against keeper Calum Duncanson in the box.  With five minutes gone in the first half, the script had been rewritten and Keith were 1-0 ahead. 10 minutes later Connor Gethins was to slot an incredible equaliser from a 25 yard distance. The Keith keeper was a bystander caught in the headlights and could only look round to see the ball in his net.

And so, more entertaining County football was to follow but without a finish as the squad  failed to find the net. Then into injury time and the drama of a penalty awarded to County with some Keith players losing the plot at this decision and receiving yellow cards. There were delays in taking the penalty and maybe this affected Connor - his shot went high and hit the crossbar before heading leisurely over onto the hill. Despite frantic County efforts all the way to the wire, victory and three points were to be too elusive today.  Disappointment at a draw  but there’s a long way to go yet  and there will be an exodus on Wednesday night as fans again head to Forres again  but this time for the realy McCoy.

Here's some Gurn pics - once again a lot more will be added to this set of images over the next few days.

Individual pictures here and more to come over the next few days.
And here's some from club photographer Donald Matheson



Individual pictures here