Ten man Brechin City claimed a 3-1 victory at Nairn County but visiting manager Andy Kirk was far from impressed with what he saw from his side over the 90 minutes.
Kirk said “That was the worst that we have played and being totally honest the first half was atrocious as we were slow in everything we did which was totally unacceptable.
“The second half was slightly better but to be honest it couldn’t have got much worse.
“The only positive was that we won the game but we missed numerous chances. We have had a chat in the dressing room after the game about what we need to do to make things easier for ourselves as at the moment we are doing it all the hard way.”
RESULT | Nairn County 1-3 Brechin City
Max Kucheriavyi, Murray Mackintosh and Julian Wade on target for 10-man City who had Hamish Thomson sent off early in the second half. pic.twitter.com/pYgHnc5m0g
— Brechin City FC (@BrechinCityFC) September 11, 2021
Nairn manager Ronnie Sharp was also unhappy with his team’s showing, especially gifting a late third counter just after they had got back into the game.
He said: “Giving away cheap goals has been the story of our season.
“ If we can’t stop giving goals away we are not going to win games as every time we get close to teams we are shooting ourselves in the foot.”
Brechin went ahead after 20 minutes when Maksym Kucheriavyi’s shot taking a wicked deflection off Ryan Fyffe to wrong-foot the helpless Dylan MacLean.
Twelve minutes later Murray Mackintosh finished from close range from a Marc Scott created the opening.
Hamish Thomson saw red three minutes after the break for a last man challenge on Scott Davidson but it took until eight minutes from the end for Ciaran Young to see Nairn score with a ten yard header.
Julian Wade made it more comfortable for Brechin with an 89th minute strike after rounding the keeper and a defender to grab a third goal.
Clachnacuddin 2-3 Deveronvale
Deveronvale overturned a 2-1 deficit to claim three unexpected points at Grant Street Park and move up into 11th spot in the Highland League table.
Deveronvale manager Craig Stewart said: “It’s a big three points for us and I thought we deserved it.
“The two goals we conceded were very poor but overall I thought we controlled the game, even though Grant Noble missed a first half penalty which, had it gone in, would have sent us in level at half-time.
The Lilywhites opened the scoring in the first minute through Scott Morrison’s composed finish.
The visitors passed up a gilt-edged chance to level when a Clach defender was adjudged to have handled in the box but Martin Mackinnon did brilliantly to save Noble’s spot-kick.
Substitute Sam Robertson equalised for the Banffers but within a couple of minutes Clach restored their lead when James Anderson fed Connor Bunce and he made no mistake.
Deveronvale levelled through Dane Ballard and with a draw looking likely Vale’s Mike Watson grabbed a precious winner for the visitors.
Clach boss Jordan Macdonald said: “I know we scored early on but we never really got going at all.
“We just never had that spark we’ve had for much of the season.
“I suppose it was just one of those days and to be honest, we got what we deserved.”
Strathspey 1-4 Rothes
Rothes manager Ross Jack was pleased to see his side bounce back from dropping points against Wick with a convincing victory at Strathspey Thistle.
Ross Gunn fired the Speysiders in front before Shane Harkness doubled the advantage.
James McShane pulled one back for the Jags before a Craig Cormack double settled matters.
Jack, whose side drew 1-1 with Wick the previous weekend, said: “It was important we bounced back after a terrible display in the second 45 against Wick.
“We put things right as the boys worked hard to get a good win.
“I thought we created plenty of chances and could have scored more.”
