Gregg Carrol's tactical half time switch paid dividends for Deveronvale on Saturday when his side bounced back from last weeks' defeat to grab all three points at Station Park, Nairn in a ding dong second half battle played at a frantic pace in the pouring rain.
With a team minus the likes of Brown, Cadger, Chisholm, McKenzie & Urquhart Vale scrapped their way to victory against a decent looking home side who probably in the end deserved a share of the spoils but were undone by some poor goalkeeping from veteran Jim Calder and the sheer bravery of Gregg Carrol's boys.
After a first half stalemate County took the lead through Scott Kellacher, who was sent off late on for a comment made to the standside assistant, before captain marvel Bryan Dlugonski hauled Vale level with a great solo effort.
The home side went back into the lead courtesy of a MacRae penalty but the Banffers weren't to be outdone and Jamie Watt capitalised on a Calder misjudgement to equalise with just five minutes remaining. However just when a draw seemed a fair outcome up popped Jamie Watt to head a loose ball past Calder from close range to send the large travelling support home with a huge smile if not relief as they kept up with the chasing pack at the summit of the league.

County kicked off minus the suspended Ewing and with playmaker Gary Farquhar on the bench but on loan from Caley Thistle MacRae proved they wouldn't be missed when he ghosted into the box to head a Kellacher cross narrowly past within sixty seconds of the centre.
Steve Dolan then had to block a John Seaton effort as Nairn continued to pull the early strings but Vale bounced back and Karl Farrimond, playing up top alongside Jamie Watt for the first forty-five, forced Calder into a neat save at his near post.
Ross Bremner was called into action at the other end when he stopped another MacCrae effort at the second attempt.
Farrimond had a decent chance to give the visitors the lead when a Mark Smith fell right at his feet 12-yards from goal but Seaton and Calder did just enough to snuff out the danger. MacRae came close again when he was allowed a free header at a County set-piece but Bremner was in the right place to save the youngster's downward header.
Although the rain continued to fall both sides tried their best to play the ball on the slick passing surface and in a neat move only a timely tackler form McLeod on Farrimond prevented the Vale number nine skipping clear of the Nairn rearguard.
The unfortunate Danny Craib cut his head for the second time in three weeks and had to be replaced by Mark Slater, the defender slotting directly into Vale's back three after just returning from injury. Nairn should have taken the lead on the half hour mark but Bremner did well to stand up to Sanderson before saving with his legs as Vale failed to clear their lines.
A crunching tackle on Mark Smith inside the penalty area ended giving Vale their first corner of the encounter although anything other than full contact with the ball would surely have ended up as a penalty kick. Karl Farrimond's corner failed to find a red shirt and as the homeside broke Kellacher's flick found substitute Lynch through one on one with Bremner but fortunately for the visitors he sent his effort wide of the far post.
On the stroke of half time Kellacher tried to guide a 20 yarder into the far corner but with Bremner firmly rooted to the spot the ball sailed agonisingly wide of the right-had post.

Gregg Carrol decided to change things for the second period and brought on seventeen year-old Grant Noble in place of the hard working Keith Hendry and switching to a four-four-two with skipper Bryan Dlugonski switching to an unfamiliar left-side of midfield berth and Karl Farrimond moving over to the right allowing substitute nobel to partner Jamie Watt upfront.
A super ball across the face of goal from Farrimond caused all sorts of problems for the County defence as the second period got underway but somehow they scrammbled clear before Bremner saved easily at the other end from MacRae.
Gray, set up by Farrimond fired anther low ball into the County penalty area but mcleod was on hand to slice clear for a wasted corner kick.
Kellacher, who was looking the most dangerous County player, set up a great opportunity for Lynch but Bremner was equally impressive with a super stop from the strikers piledriver to turn the ball over the top. Noble squeezed an effort just wide of Calder's right-hand post as the game swung to the other end and the rain started to get even heavier.
The home side took the lead just about on the hour when an attempted clearance from Gray landed kindly for Scott Kellacher and he crashed a volley past Bremner from 12-yards into the far corner.
Dolan fired in a free kick which was easily gathered by Calder before Dlugonski pulled the Banffers level. The skipper cut inside from the left and held off two challenges before rifling a low drive past Calder from 20-yards for his second of the season.
Jamie Watt missed a golden opportunity at the same venue he made his name by scoring the first ever Highland League golden goal when he sprung the Nairn offside trap only to play the ball too far in front of himself allowing the outrushing Calder the opportunity to block and although Mark Smith was on hand to pick up the loose ball he too had his attempt deflected to safety by the Nairn defence.
With only ten minutes remaining County set up an amazing finish the contest when they grabbed the lead from the penalty spot. Pressley was adjudged to have held back MacRae after failing to clear at the first opportunity and MacRae sent Bremner the wrong way from the spot.
The Vale support had damp squib staring them in the face until a rare mistake by the experienced Jim Calder gave them a lifeline with five minutes remaining. Mark Smith played a high ball into the penalty area and as Calder came to intercept the ball bounced higher than he expected and out of the reach of his finger tips leaving Jamie WATT with simplest of tasks of stroking the ball into the unguarded net although credit must be given to the scorer for reading the situation and gambling on the keeper's error especially after missing the guilt edge chance at one-a-piece.
Credit to both sides as neither of them gave up winning the match even though five minutes play stoppage were all that remained and only a last ditch Stuart Gray clearance prevented County from grabbing the lead before Grant Noble saw an effort cleared off the line after another mistake by Calder.
As the game came into it's final minutes and tempers began to fray Scott Kellacher saw red when he was sent off for something he said to the stand-side assistant.
In the final minute Jamie WATT emerged as the hero with another opportunist goal when he was in the right place at the right time to glance a header past the helpless Calder from close range after Stuart Gray's drive had been deflected into the air by tired looking home defence.

Greg Carol was somewhat bemused by how the game ended but found his breath to say, 'Great second half for the fans but not so good for the faint hearted as tackles flew in and goalmouth action was in abundance but what a finish from the lads. We had to travel to Nairn, which is never easy at the best of times, with a rather depleted squad but the boys worked their socks off to earn the victory. At 2-2 I would have settled for a point but the lads had other ideas and pushed bodies forward and got their reward".
"We have another tough fixture against Lossiemouth next weekend and will have at least Robbie Brown available to add to our squad but it's too early to say on the other injuries" added Carrol.

Nairn:
Calder, Sinclair, #McLeod, #C. McLeod, Edwards, MacKinnon, Barron, #MacRae, Seaton (Chisholm 74), ##Kellacher, Sanderson (Lynch 34)

Subs Not Used: Farquhar, Rae (GK)
Manager: Les Fridge

Vale:
Bremner, Dolan, Gray, Pressley, Craib (Slater 29), Dlugonski (Cpt.), Smith, #Kidd, Farrimond, Watt, Hendry (Noble 46)
Subs Not Used: Cadger, McKenzie, Urquhart

Referee:  B. Baxter