Thistle play the waiting game and hope for a Nairn win
STRATHSPEY Thistle are now crossing their fingers for a Nairn County win at Fort William this weekend if they are to avoid the wooden spoon for a second successive season.
The Jags needed a win against Nairn on Saturday to condemn the Fort to bottom spot, but a Tony Low double and a Steven Mackay lob handed the visitors all three points at Seafield Park.
The result means that Thistle have now rounded off their campaign one point better off than the Fort – who still have this Saturday’s game against Nairn to play.
Strathspey assistant manager Brian Ritchie was pleased with the endeavour his side showed despite the loss of two quick-fire goals shortly before half time.
He said: "It is quite obvious there is a divide between us and a team of Nairn’s calibre. I take my hat off to Les Fridge because every one of his players can play football.
"They are nice to watch but it is not so nice to be on the end of it at times."
Ritchie thinks the Jags have come on leaps and bounds in the last couple of months.
He said: "We have a bit of shape and a bit of discipline with a settled squad. Boys are playing in their favoured positions and are holding onto their shirts.
"The conditions had a major part to play in the three goals. We are obviously disappointed to lose but there are certainly plenty of positives to take."
He added: "Once Nairn got their first goal, you could see our players’ heads go down because we had put so much into fighting with them and battling.
"It was a bit of a blow to us to lose the opener and that was the same with the second.
"We thought it was going over the bar but the wind caught it and Terry Swinton, our right back, tried to get it but the wind played a funny part and blew it sideways away from Terry and it hit the post and went in.
"That deflated the boys.
"To be fair to the players, in the past, the floodgates would have opened but they pulled their socks up and got stuck in and although we didn’t compete with Nairn on the technical side of things, from a challenge and meeting them head on, we got right in."
Strathspey are now left to secretly cheer on Nairn in their fixture at Fort William as they look to achieve their early-season aim of avoiding bottom spot in the table this time around.
Ritchie added: "I make no airs and graces about it, Fort William are another hard-working team and if they finish above us then we will be disappointed.
"There is nobody we can blame but ourselves and we shouldn’t really be looking to other teams to do us favours.
"We are just focusing on the summer when there will be changes in the management coming.
"We have our own plans and the way we want to do things.
"I am sure you will see a different Strathspey Thistle team not only on the park but in the way we are looking to play our football."
