Fraserburgh boss Mark Cowie thinks the Broch showed a ‘different side’ to their game in fighting back from a goal down to win 3-2 at Nairn County and preserve their perfect start.
Following Max Ewan’s early long-range curler for the fast-starting home side, Bryan Hay netted from a corner to level the scores just before half-time, before a Paul Campbell penalty – after Paul Young had been fouled – and Scott Barbour finish in the second half put the Broch in control.
An own goal from Owen Cairns, following good work from Ewan, made the scoreline tighter, but ultimately Cowie – who thinks his side should’ve had a second penalty for a “blatant” handball – was pleased Fraserburgh found a way to win on a day where they weren’t at their best.
He said: “I don’t think it’s just us who have a hard time up there. Nairn are a very good young side and I’ve got so much respect for Ronnie (Sharp) and the team up there. The work they’ve done over their tenure has been great.
“The most important thing going to that type of venue is three points. Although we didn’t play anywhere near the standards we know we’re capable of, we showed a different side of us that you need as well. You can’t play brilliant football every game.”
Cowie couldn’t criticise his players for Nairn’s opener, adding: “I don’t think you can take anything away from the guy’s finish. There’s things we can look to be better at, but the boy’s hit it from 25 yards right into the top corner.
“But we regrouped and the goal before half-time was crucial to get in level and we’ve stamped our authority a bit more. I think we merited the win over the 90 minutes.
“It’s another three points to keep this run we’re on going. It’s going to be difficult and you’ve already seen, apart from us and Buckie, everyone else has had points taken of them. I think we’ll see everybody drop points over the course of the season, because there are a lot of teams who are capable.
“We’re away into a tricky few weeks, which we’re ready for, and we’ll just take it one game at a time.”
Meanwhile, Nairn boss Ronnie Sharp thinks, despite a quick start, his team are developing a habit of losing concentration near the interval.
He said: “It was disappointing. We led until just before half-time, conceded just before half-time and we seem to have a habit of doing that now.
“I thought we started brightly, but we didn’t come out the second half at all. They got on top of us.”
Controversial late free-kick sees Brechin and Rothes share the points
A 90th-minute equalising goal secured Brechin City a 2-2 draw against a battling Rothes outfit making their first Highland League appearance at Glebe Park.
Speysiders’ manager Ross Jack had mixed feelings after watching his overturn a 1-0 deficit only to concede the last-gasp leveller.
Jack said: “Their last-minute goal was a great strike from the free-kick, but we were robbed by a Brechin City player who conned the referee to get the free-kick in the first place and that was a sickener. Everyone in the ground could see it and our players went absolutely mental when their player admitted to them that he dived, but the referee bought it.
“Before the game, and at half-time when we were 1-0 down, we would probably have taken a draw, but the way we played in that second half we thoroughly deserved more than we ended up with.
“Our second goal was a tale of two substitutes – Ross Gunn, who had come on a few minutes earlier, set it up with a great run and cross and Aidan Wilson smashed it in with his first touch of the game to put us 2-1 up, but that late equaliser came as a real kick in the teeth.”
Brechin opened the scoring in the 36th minute when Max Kucheriavyi’s cross was glanced home by David Cox to give the home side a slender interval lead.
However, Rothes levelled on the hour mark, Jack Brown beating Jack Wills to the ball before netting and, eight minutes from time, substitute Wilson fired the Speysiders ahead.
Brechin City were reduced to 10-men in the 86th minute when Jamie Bain lashed out at a Rothes player and was immediately shown a red card.
A shock away win looked on the cards until Kucheriavyi fired home his 90th-minute, 25-yard free-kick.
Rowley thinks ‘sleepiness’ saw Forres let Fort back into game
Forres Mechanics manager Charlie Rowley felt his side made their 3-2 victory over Fort William harder work than it needed to be.
Mechanics came from behind to establish a 3-1 lead at Mosset Park, before Fort netted in the final stages to set up a nervy finish.
Rowley, who was without a number of players including Lee Fraser, Graham Fraser and Robbie Duncanson, was pleased to rack up back-to-back wins, but felt his side should have killed the game off earlier.
Rowley said: “The scoreline suggests it was a close encounter, which it obviously was in terms of the result, but after we gifted them the first goal it was one-way traffic.
“We should have scored four or five, but unfortunately a bit of sleepiness crept into our game, which is an ongoing theme with the young, inexperienced team we’ve got on the park just now.
“We conceded to make it 3-2 and made it much more nervy than it possibly should have been.
“All things considered, from the last two weeks we’ve managed to get six points out of six with a fairly depleted squad, so we can’t be too despondent with the situation we’re in.”
Fort took the lead after just five minutes when Thomas Brady’s clearance landed at the feet of Ruairidh MacDonald to fire past Stuart Knight.
The Can-Cans instantly cancelled it out, however, with Moray Taylor nodding home from a corner to level the scoring.
Forres turned the game on its head 10 minutes before the break when Ross MacPherson headed home from another set-piece, before Allan MacPhee turned in a Taylor cross to make it 3-1 on 47 minutes.
Mechanics were unable to kill off the game, however, with Taylor’s misplaced pass allowing Connor Moore to run through on goal before firing past Knight.