Nervous start to Jags' campaign
Strathspey Thistle manager Brian Ritchie could have been forgiven for feeling
slightly nervous ahead of Saturday’s season curtain-raiser at Nairn County.
However, the Jags boss feels it was his players who were caught up in the sense of occasion.
Ritchie took sole charge of the Jags for the first time in competitive action on Saturday and suffered a 3-0 reverse at Station Park.
“A couple of the players were a bit nervous on the day,” Ritchie said.
“It has been a long build up and the players were all given their new strip, warm-up tops and everything was put in place for them, but maybe the occasion got to them a little bit.
“Nairn have been a bit of a bugbear for us because they are such a good team and we all know what they are capable of. Maybe that got to some of the players and their confidence wasn’t there to have a go.
“In Conor Gethins and Robbie Duncanson, Nairn have two quality players up front and I am sure they would grace any Highland League team, if not, a team from a higher level.
“I have no complaints about the result and, unfortunately, we were unable to play all of our new lads because of a few minor injuries, holidays and suchlike.”
He added: “Overall, we were happy with the players’ commitment because they stuck to the game plan and did what they were asked.
“In the cold of light of day, I was disappointed with the result but more than happy with the boys’ commitment.”
Ritchie was satisfied with the effort and application from his players and believes their hard work will be rewarded over the weeks and months to come.
He said: “We told the players what we want from them over the summer and they put about 75% of that into play on Saturday.
“We could see that they had taken on board what we had told them but a few of them maybe tried to play too much football at times.
“They need to realise that they are up against quality players and they cannot play too much football in the danger areas.
“We wanted to try to get Nairn to turn a bit more and start thinking about us in an attacking sense but that will come with time.”
Ritchie’s critics pointed to the new Jags boss’ lack of frontline experience following his appointment, and after enduring a difficult summer, the Strathspey supremo was happy to be back to match action.
He added: “There has been a bit of doom and gloom from people behind the scenes and, for me personally, the last six weeks has been a bit of a hard time.
“Just to go and have a game of football to enjoy though puts the whole thing in context. At the end of the day, it is not life or death – it is just a game of football – and I am pleased that all the boys went out and enjoyed it.”
Thistle have been boosted this week by the impending return of centre half Gary Sutherland.
The defender had handed in a transfer request over the close season but has now made a shock u-turn.
Ritchie said: “We had a blether with Gary and he will be back training with the squad this week.
“It will be a big bonus for us to have him back and he was pushing to be our player of the year last season.
“At times, Gary has to realise just how big a player he can be, not just for Strathspey but in the Highland League generally.
“He has the chance to make a name for himself and he has the hunger back now, which is a real boost for everyone at Strathspey Thistle.”
Another piece of positive news to emerge from Seafield Park was the successful return of Nicholas ‘Choccy’ Mochan.
The defender came through the full 90 minutes on Saturday unscathed.
Ritchie beamed: “I was delighted to see Choccy back playing football because for a while after his injury, some people doubted whether he would be able to kick a ball again and it was a really worrying time for us.
“He was obviously a bit ring rusty on Saturday but I think he is going to be fantastic for us.
“He oozes class, plays football the way it should be and he is calm. As well as that, he is also a steely defender and we have big plans for him.”
Strathspey almost fell behind inside the first 10 seconds.
Nairn striker Conor Gethins attempted to score from the halfway line straight from kick-off but, fortunately, for the Jags, goalkeeper Gordon MacDonald was alert enough to tip the ball over the top.
Thistle looked bright and could have opened the scoring themselves when David Ross dispossessed Paul Macleod 30 yards from goal on five minutes but the midfielder shot straight at home stopper Ally Ridgers.
Wayne Mackintosh and David Watson both fired off target for the hosts as they began to dictate play and found the opener on 20 minutes.
Robbie Duncanson played a slick one-two with Watson before arrowing a powerful drive beyond MacDonald.
Gethins then fired into the side netting when well placed a minute later but the Irish striker doubled County’s lead on 23 minutes.
Ross Thomson’s ball into the box was superbly controlled by Gethins before he clipped an accurate effort over the advancing MacDonald.
Duncanson was then kept out by MacDonald before David Hind’s header off a Thomson corner sailed over the top.
Watson fired the last chance of the half over the top for Nairn and, after the restart, David Ritchie almost found the far corner of the net with an inviting cross that just failed to find any takers.
Then, Mateusz Bobrowski toe-ended a cross from the left towards goal, but Ridgers did just enough to prevent the ball from creeping home before Ritchie’s chipped effort narrowly failed to drop under the crossbar.
The Strathspey goal was living a charmed life soon after with Duncanson’s effort coming back off the post before a Gethins drive hit the crossbar.
Nairn put the game beyond Strathspey with their third goal of the game on 68 minutes.
Gethins ran onto a diagonal ball into the box only to see his effort well saved by MacDonald. However, the striker squared the rebound across goal for Duncanson to knock beyond the grounded Strathspey stopper.
Nairn County: Ridgers, Macleod, Hind, MacDonald, Mackintosh, Gregg Main (Houston 89), Gethins, Thomson (Gillespie 65), Watson, Duncanson, Glenn Main. Subs: Mackay, Donaldson (gk).
Scorers: Duncanson (20, 68), Gethins (23).
Booked: Gregg Main (70).
Strathspey Thistle: MacDonald, Ritchie, Anderson (Hill 75), Mochan, Munro, Hardie, Donaldson (Russell 86), Ross, Bobrowski, Swinton (Coll 68), Tulloch. Subs: Wardrope, Robertson (gk).
Booked: Bobrowski (8), Ross (44), Tulloch (80).
Referee: Thomas Shaw.