A set-piece double from marksman Conor Gethins earned Nairn County a point against a Rothes outfit which never really clicked at Mackessack Park on Saturday afternoon.
After Gethins’ first half free-kick found the net for the visitors, the Speysiders squandered several chances, but managed to get themselves in front via goals from Jack Brown and Greg Morrison either side of the break.
However, County dug-in and Gethins’ late penalty kick saw the game end in a 2-2 draw.
Disappointed Rothes manager Ross jack said: “It’s definitely two points dropped, we just didn’t perform as well as we can do on the day.
“We did start the second half with a bit of fight, finesse and style and we got in front, but then we fell back into the same bad habits which caused us problems in the first half.
“That’s three games now where we’ve had a barrel-load of chances.
“I am delighted that Greg Morrison has got off the mark, we really do need to start putting some of these chances away, but we were caught by a sucker-punch by County today with that free-kick and then that late penalty, which for me was a strange decision.
“The referee waved play-on, the County player missed his shot, and then the referee awarded the penalty, to me that was very, very strange.”
Before kick-off an emotional minute’s applause was held for long-term Rothes secretary Garry Davies, who passed away just 10 days ago.
In the third minute, a slack pass by home full-back Ben Johnstone provided Gethins with a chance, but the little Irishman fired high over the crossbar from 25 yards.
County opened the scoring on the half hour mark after Johnstone gave away a needless free-kick 25 yards out and, not for the first time in his long and distinguished Highland League career, Gethins hammered the ball high into the far corner of the net.
With half-time approaching, home skipper Bruce Milne saw his powerful back-post header rebound off the crossbar with keeper Counsell beaten.
In the second minute of added-time, the Speysiders’ pressure paid off when the ball broke to Jack Brown 15 yards out and the midfielder hammered the ball low through a forest of legs for a deserved equaliser.
Three minutes into the second half, Rothes turned the game on its head when former Ross County and Brora Rangers striker Morrison nodded home at the back post to fire the home side ahead.
But Nairn were awarded a penalty in the 80th minute when Max Ewan was taken down in the box. Gethins took the spot-kick and sent Sean McCarthy the wrong way.
Nairn boss Ronnie Sharp felt his side were well worth a share of the points, and said: “I thought we created quite a lot of chances ourselves, but we just picked the wrong ball at the wrong time.
“Near the end we had a big chance when Conor was through on goal, he was well onside, but he was given offside. But Conor scored goals, that’s what he’s good at and he’s now got four so far this season.”
