Nairn County boss Ronnie Sharp bemoaned his side’s lack of cutting edge as they were held to a goalless draw by Lossiemouth at Grant Park.
The Coasters had goalkeeper Stewart Black to thank for the point as he made a string of stunning saves to deny County attackers.
Sharp believes the blank scoreline sums up Nairn’s season so far as they have struggled to hit the net in too many games.
He said: “We are not going to win many games if we can’t score.
“We dominated the first half but this is the story of our season.
“I think we have only scored more than two goals in two games this year so we have a massive problem up front and with scoring goals.
“We were the far better team but we need to turn all that possession in the first half into goals.”
County dominated the first half and deserved to be at least two goals to the good. However, they could not find a way past Black, who kept his second clean sheet in three games.
Lossiemouth struggled to settle early on with Nairn attacking with flair down the flank.
Full-back Kenny McKenzie’s low cross into the box found Max Ewan but his shot was turned away by Black.
County continued to pepper the Lossie goal with attempts and Black repelled efforts from Liam Shewan and Adam Porritt before pulling off an excellent point-blank save with his feet to deny Ewan again.
Buoyed by Black’s performance, the Coasters improved in the second half with Nairn keeper Will Counsell having to be alert to save a low Brodie Allen free-kick.
The end of the match brought dramatic scenes as Lossie were denied a late penalty when substitute Kris Duncan was felled in the box.
County then almost broke the deadlock in injury time when substitute Jack Maclean played in Glenn Main but his shot was blocked on the line by a Lossiemouth defender.
Coasters boss Joe Russell was pleased with the point that dragged his team further from the bottom of the league.
He said: “It was end-to-end stuff at times and I think over the game we defended really well and didn’t deserve to lose a goal.
“On another day we might have nicked it but a draw is probably a fair result to be honest.
“Blackie (Stewart Black) pulled off a couple of absolutely outstanding saves, which is really pleasing.
“We needed him today and he pulled it off.”
