Wade brace enough to beat Wee County

NAIRN COUNTY FORMARTINE UTD

A first half double from Julian Wade was enough to secure the points for Formartine United in a 2-0 victory against Nairn County at a blustery Station Park.

The Dominica international was the stand-out performer for United, who remain fifth in the table.

Formartine manager Stuart Anderson said: “It was a real battle. The first half performance was excellent.

“The wind changed a wee bit in the second half, so they had the advantage of the wind in both halves.

“But I’m delighted it’s another clean sheet.

“We could maybe have been out of sight in the first half.

“In the second half, we stuck to our task. I don’t think we gave them a chance.

“Julian and Aaron (Reid) were a great partnership.

“Aaron plays the ball in for the first one – it’s a great team goal – and Marc Lawrence has had two excellent passes leading up to the goals.”

Nairn started the match brightly, but it was the visitors who went in front in the 15th minute following a fast-flowing move.

Lawrence spread the ball out to Reid, whose ball into the box was swept home by Wade.

The visitors doubled their lead in the 26th minute when Wade raced on to a Lawrence through ball before shrugging off his marker to net.

Nairn manager Steven Mackay said: “I thought we started the game really well – for the first 10 minutes, I was really happy.

“We didn’t create loads of chances and they didn’t have any.

“Then we have one sloppy touch in the middle of the park and, before you know it, we are 1-0 down.

“It probably sums up our season a bit – not being clinical enough in the final third.

“In the second half we changed the shape and created a few half chances, but we never really looked like we were going to get that goal.”