Andy Kirk has challenged Brechin City to win all their remaining Breedon Highland League games.
The Hedgemen defeated Brora Rangers 2-1 at Glebe Park on Saturday to stay four points behind leaders Fraserburgh and three adrift of second-placed Buckie Thistle.
Brechin’s aim at the start of the season was to win the title and although they look set to fall short of that manager Kirk has no intentions of allowing the season to wind down.
He said: “It’s eight wins in a row now and we’re pleased with the result.
“In terms of the performance we got a bit tired towards the end, a few boys had niggles and we had to be careful with our subs.
“But I’m pleased to win, we’ve challenged the players to win every game between now and the end of the season.
“There are three more tough games coming up, but we’re happy.
“All we can do is try to win games of football. We’ve had one or two results over the course of the season which have hurt us.
“But where we are now in terms of how we’re playing we feel like we’re still improving.
“We’re happy with the level of performance the players are putting in. After Brora beat us 2-0 in the Highland League Cup we challenged the players.
“They’ve turned that round in terms of doing the ugly side of the game and then giving us a platform to go and play with the quality we’ve got.”
Hedgemen take advantage
The first glimmer of an opening arrived in the 18th minute with David Cox setting up Garry Wood inside the area, but John Pickles made a terrific block to repel the shot.
Midway through the first period it was Brechin who took the lead with the help of some good fortune.
Wood tried to wriggle away from Colin Williamson on the right side of the area but took a heavy touch, Mark Nicolson came across to clear, but blasted the ball against Williamson and it rebounded perfectly for Cox to finish from close range.
Brora’s only opening in the first 45 minutes came just before the interval when Dale Gillespie’s intelligent pass found Tony Dingwall on the right side of the area.
City goalkeeper Iain Ross saved the initial shot and when Dingwall tried to force home the loose ball Jamie Bain cleared off the line.
But just two minutes after the restart Brechin increased their advantage.
Half-time sub Marc Scott and Cox combined on the right with the latter’s cross to the back post headed home by Michael Cruickshank.
Jordan MacRae, Andrew Macrae and Ali Sutherland were all introduced from the Brora bench but there was no instant change to the pattern of the contest.
In the 69th minute Brora did threaten with Nicolson’s header from Gillespie’s corner cleared off the line by Cruickshank.
The Cattachs did keep knocking on the door and seven minutes later Sutherland played in Macrae, but Ross was quickly off his line to narrow the angle and block the shot.
Just as it looked like the game was petering out referee Stewart Luke awarded Brora a penalty in the 90th minute when Ross clipped Macrae.
Gillespie found the bottom left corner from 12 yards, but Brechin managed to see out stoppage time.
Cattach frustration
Brora still have the GPH Builders Merchants Highland League Cup final to look forward to this term, but in the league things have petered out in recent weeks.
Boss Craig Campbell said: “I’m a bit frustrated and a bit disappointed, we gave ourselves a tough task by going behind.
“It’s a comedy of errors for the first goal – which is not like us – but the last few weeks it’s been creeping in.
“We didn’t create a lot in the first half, but at 1-0 you always think you’ve got a chance, but we come out and concede another soft goal at the start of the second half.
“You can’t just turn things on and off in football, if you drop your standards you’ll carry on dropping your standards.
“We need to get back up to the levels we were playing at going forward to the Highland League Cup final.”