MATCH REPORTS

City 5 Nairn St Ninian 0

 

 

The famous saying “It ain’t over till the fat lady sings” certainly rings out for Inverness City. A convincing second half performance saw off local rivals Nairn St Ninian. Co-manager Pollard said “I couldn’t be any more proud of the squad of players we have. Even the boys who came off the bench had a determined mood about them.” Pollard added “We’ve really put ourselves in to the position now where the title can be won and lost by ourselves. With Nairn St Ninian being the last team to beat us back in November, we had a point to prove and I think we showed our support that this squad of lads are serious about their title challenge.”

 

The game started off with both sides giving little away. City’s first chance came in the 20^th minute, when Maclennan received the ball wide right and hit a ferocious shot to the bottom corner, which caused the Nairn keeper to pull off a fantastic save. It was only a minute later when City found their first the goal when a pass from Kevin Fraser put Stevie Sanderson through to slot the ball past the oncoming Nairn keeper. Towards the end of the first half, City started to find their passing game, and this was continued in to the second half which became a major factor. On the 62^nd minute, Maclennan again made a good run down the right, hit a cross which was goal-bound but was helped in to the net by the Nairn defender, to make the score 2-0. With a two goal advantage, City started to stretch the Nairn side and on the 77^th minute, Gary Miller’s cross found Sanderson on the back post to put City three up. Only eight minutes later, Jordan MacDonald delivered an inch perfect free kick for Jamie Fraser to out-jump the Nairn keeper and nod the ball in for City’s fourth. Two minutes from the end, the hard working Turner got his just rewards when he intercepted a ball and calmly slotted it past the Nairn keeper. The second half performance seemed to prove too much for the visitors and City ran out comfortable winners with a 5-0 victory. Pollard said “The job has been done but again we have to concentrate on next week when we play a very physical and strong Bishopmill team at home. What we need to do is carry on with the performance which we put in the second half and we will get our rewards.”

 

Team: Young, Allan, MacDonald, D Beaton, K Fraser, Maclennan (Mapplebeck, 78), J Fraser, Miller, McNiven (K Mason, 78), Turner, Sanderson (P Beaton, 82).

Subs not used: Murdoch, Pollard