Josh Winton is looking forward to leading Banks o’ Dee after he and Paul Lawson were appointed co-managers for the rest of the season.
The pair and assistant Alex Gray have taken charge since Jamie Watt and Roy McBain were sacked earlier this month.
But following Saturday’s 6-0 Breedon Highland League win over Wick Academy, it was confirmed they will remain in place for the rest of the campaign.
Winton said: “I’ve played with a lot of the players and helped out on the coaching side for the last few years, so I know them well.
“Paul’s got great experience in coaching and management from his time as manager at Formartine and has also played at the highest level.
“Between the two of us, it will be a good combination I think.
“In the short-term we want to rack up as many wins as we can and get performances which are at a high level.
“We got that against Wick and longer term we’ve got the semi-final of the Highland League Cup (against Buckie Thistle in March) to look forward to.”
Dee were handed a further boost with club captain Kane Winton signing a contract extension until the summer of 2026.
Josh Winton added: “Kane’s a big player for us, there’s no doubt about that. It’s good to have him tied up longer term and hopefully we’ll be able to get a few more of them tied up as well.”
Quick start does for Wick
Lachie MacLeod put Dee ahead against Wick inside two minutes and Magnus Watson quickly doubled the lead.
Midway through the first half Jack Henderson made it 3-0, converting the rebound after Graeme Williamson saved his penalty following a foul on Hamish MacLeod.
Watson then netted his second and Hamish MacLeod’s quickfire brace before half-time completed the scoring.
Wick player-manager Gary Manson said: “Banks o’ Dee were relentless in the first half, we didn’t defend properly and we were all over the place really.
“It was attack after attack in the first half. We only got up the pitch three or four times and that was about it.
“I said to them at half-time it was about stopping the rot, closing people down more and working a bit harder.
“That was what we wanted at the start of the game, but second half it was more even.
“They maybe took their foot off the gas a little bit.
“Overall it’s very frustrating, you don’t expect a first half performance like that – it was terrible.”
Nairn County 2-0 Lossiemouth
Nairn County manager Steven Mackay felt his side should have done better despite bagging another three points in a 2-0 home victory against Lossiemouth.
First half goals from Conor Gethins and Ciaran Young were enough to seal victory for the Wee County despite a gallant effort from their opponents.
Mackay said: “I’m happy with the three points and the clean sheet, but the performance levels we were a bit flat and a bit off the standards we’ve set in recent weeks.
“We got the goals at important times in the first half but I expected us to kick on in the second half and create more chances and maybe get another goal or two.
“But fair play to Lossie they gave it a go and might have got themselves back in the game, thankfully they didn’t.
“I was disappointed in the flatness of the second half performance, we’ll need to do better.”
The home side who took the lead in the 19th minute when Andrew Greig swung a delightful ball into the box and striker Gethins rose to head past Lossie keeper Cammy Farquhar.
19' Goal for Nairn! Conor Gethins hits his 198th Nairn goal to break the deadlock.
🟡 1-0 🔵 pic.twitter.com/9eNNg1FSw9
— Nairn County FC (@NairnCounty) January 28, 2023
Lossie responded and Liam Archibald tested Dylan MacLean with a low drive which the keeper did well to smother at his near post then Adam MacLeod was not far away with a snap-shot which just cleared MacLean’s left hand post.
But Nairn doubled their lead five minutes from the break when Kenny McKenzie sent over the perfect cross for Young to score with a superbly executed scissors kick.
There were chances at either end at the start of the second half with MacLeod lobbing over and Greig being stopped in his tracks by a last ditch tackle from Jared Kennedy.
Lossie saw more of the ball in the second half but they lacked a killer touch in front of goal as Nairn held on for all three points.
Lossie interim manager, Ian Campbell said; “We probably created double the amount of chances as them but they scored the two goals.
“In the second half we were probably on top but we just couldn’t get that goal. I think we could have played all night and not scored.
“There was nothing much in the game and we can’t be too disappointed but again it’s no points.”