Academy had good early chances from Gary Weir and Nigel Mackenzie and in the 15th minute Academy took the lead. Gary Weir twisted and turned his way past 3 or 4 Nairn defenders in the Nairn penalty box. He manage to feed the ball across goal from the right and Mark Nichol bundled the ball past keeper James Calder from about 4 yards out.
1 – 0
Nairn however levelled in the 28th minute. Duncan Jones the Nairn number 12 took the ball up the right wing and fired in a powerful cross that the Nairn number 23 William Barron headed home over Dons out-stretched hand.
1 – 1
Both teams huffed and puffed towards the half-time whistle with neither really showing a real threat on any further scoring.
Half time 1 – 1
The second half began with both teams pushing forward whenever they could, and Academy had a good chance in the 49th minute when Mark Nichol found himself free in the Nairn box. He latched onto a cross ball but keeper Calder held his shot well.
Almost immediately from that Ian Brooks the Nairn no 10 found himself fed through into the Academy box and he had a great chance to score, but Don made a really good save low down with his feet.
The next Nairn chance saw the Nairn danger-man Tony Low steam down the wing and his cross-ball was met by William Barron who almost scored his second of the match, but his shot went just wide of Dons post.
Nairn then scored their winner in the 77th minute. Paul McCallum had a chance to play the ball out of defence but he sent it wide for a Nairn throw-in. The resulting throw-in was drilled into the Academy box and Gavin Henderson had a miss-kick and failed to clear the ball out. It fell to the Nairn number 9 Steven Sanderson and he scored low past Dons left hand.
1 – 2
Nairn played out the final 10 minutes of the game keeping possession well when they had the ball. Academy plugged away but couldn’t muster up an equaliser. The nearest they really came was from a Craig Shearer attempt in the last minute which Calder saved well.
In all there were 3 bookings in the game; Craig Shearer in 35 minutes, Paul McCallum in 61 minutes and Nairns Martin Sanderson in 77 minutes.
Full time 1 – 2
Academy played some fairly good football today and certainly competed in the game. They probably didn’t use the strong back-wind to their best advantage in the first half, but did play the ball well on the deck for long spells in the second half. They must however stop leaking goals, as that seems to be their current down-fall.
In what was a cold and windy day at the Harmsworth Park Nairn will be happy to be heading down the A9 with all 3 points. Today sees them winning their 10th game in 11 matches, so they are certainly on a good run.
Sponsors Man Of The match Andrew Macleod
Seen here receiving his award from match sponsor Walter Mowat, Seaview Hotel.
Match Mascot was Michael Mowat
Academy team: MacMillan, Handerson, Macleod, McCallum (Gunn 66), Coghill, N Mackenzie, Reid, Shearer, Weir (Manson 75), Nichol, G Farquhar (Cowie 80).
Subs: Gunn, Manson, S Sinclair, Cowie, Sutherland.
