Forres boss keeps it cool

THOSE old wartime posters which urged Britain to ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ may soon be found displayed on the walls of the Forres Mechanics changing room.

For manager Charlie Rowley is issuing a ‘don’t panic’ plea to his players in the wake of Saturday’s 4-2 defeat at Huntly.

That result saw Mechanics swept off their perch at the top of the Highland League, with high-flying Cove Rangers taking over the leadership with three months of the season to go.

The Cans, however, have games in hand to try and clamber back up to top slot, and Rowley sees no reason why last weekend’s setback at Christie Park cannot be a one-off experience.

“There’s no big panic buttons being pressed here,” Rowley insisted. “It’s one bad 45 minutes we’ve had in 21 games, so we need to concentrate on the bigger picture.

“We’ve had a hugely successful season up till now and we don’t want to dwell on a poor half of football. We just need to continue in the vein we had been in up until Saturday.”

Last week’s loss was only Mechanics’ third in the league this season, and the first time they have conceded four goals in a Highland League match this term.

The normally steady defensive four of Graham Fraser, Nathan Sharp, Graeme Grant and Simon Allan had an off day, while goalkeeper Stuart Knight cost his team two goals, but Rowley was not looking to point the finger at anyone for his team’s shortcomings.

“Our keeper and back four have been the main reason for our success this season, and the ‘goals against’ tally backs that up. We’re all allowed off days and poor performances, but we’re certainly not apportioning blame on any individuals.

“It was just one of those days when our defensive shape didn’t work, we made mistakes and we paid for it. We’ll speak about it in training this week and then discuss how we’re going to sort it all out for Saturday and another tough match away to Wick.”