NAIRN County boss Les Fridge was thrilled by the way his side struck back from their festive derby defeat to dump Highland League leaders Forres Mechanics on Friday.
Now he's urging his troops to repeat this performance on Saturday when they travel to 12th placed Formartine United, bossed by former Caley Thistle and Aberdeen manager Steve Paterson.
Forres remain strong favourites to go on and lift their first championship since 1986 and they beat Nairn 4-0 a fortnight ago in part one of the local rivals' double header.
However, Steven MacKay and Steven Ellis helped Nairn gain a measure of revenge on Friday, with Willie Barron's late goal not enough to halt a 2-1 win for the hosts at Station Park.
Fridge said: "It was a good three points for us, but the performance was the most important thing from our point of view. After that first game, where we felt we let everyone down, we came back with the right reaction. We competed from the start, we had a real go at them.
"Although we were disappointed with our defending in the first game, the 4-0 result was not a true reflection of our how it went because they scored two late goals and we felt we gifted them two goals before that. We defended much better on Friday."
He added: "There's a long way to go and it's still Forres's title to throw away. They are in pole position with two games in hand, so they're still in a strong position."
So, now a trip to Formartine's North Lodge Park lies in store for Nairn.
In August, the teams shared four goals, with David Watson and Martin MacDonald getting goals either side of a Bobby Mann double.
Fridge feels if his players can approach this fixture in the same fashion as they went into the Forres return game then they'll be in the frame for victory.
He said: "Formartine away is a difficult fixture. They've been very much a Jekyll and Hyde side this season. I think much of it comes down to how well we play this Saturday. After Friday's result we know that if we can repeat that performance we'll give ourselves a chance.
"Stevie will have them fired up. He brought in a lot of experience at the start of the season and it's always a tough place to go."
Gregg Main is the main doubt for Nairn ahead of their journey east this weekend.
