Fraserburgh boss Mark Cowie happy with weekend work to take third spot in Elgin competition

Fraserburgh won the Consolation Trophy after beating Highland League rivals Inverurie Locos 2-0 at the Borough Briggs anniversary tournament.

First half goals from Ryan Sargent and Zane Laird earned the Highland League champions third place in this pre-season four-club weekend competition to mark 100 years of Elgin City playing at their home venue.

And Broch manager Mark Cowie felt it was a useful weekend of work for his title-winners.

He said: “Over the two games, we’ve shown up well. We had a mixture of youth and experience in both matches, so we never played our proper 11 in full in either game.

“I’m not overly fussed about results at this stage. It’s about getting momentum for the league campaign, which is the most important thing for us.

“The tournament was good. The squad was maybe a bit thin to play two games in two days, but it was nice to be invited by Elgin.”

Broch were beaten 2-0 by Elgin City on Saturday before Locos were edged out on penalties by Peterhead meaning this was a tie for third position.

Locos, who finished seventh in the division last term, lost both games against their high-flying opponents in 2021/22.

The first chance of note arrived when Fraserburgh’s Sargent won a free-kick on 16 minutes when he got the better of Logan Johnstone.

From the 25-yard set-piece, Logan Watt drew a comfortable save Jamie Shingler on the keeper’s debut.

Just a few minutes later though, Sargent fired Fraserburgh in front when he guided a stinging low drive into the far corner after tidy build-up play.

Locos needed to regroup and they did for a while. They tested the trialist goalkeeper when Sam Burnett tapped a free-kick into the path of Lloyd Robertson, but it was turned behind for a corner.

Then came a blow for Locos on the stroke of half-time when, from an Aidan Combe cut-back, Laird put pressure on defenders and was credited with the final touch to make it 2-0.

There were a raft of changes from the start of the second half, mainly from Locos, but the closest the net came to being hit was through two Robert Ward efforts, one held by the keeper, the other whizzing wide.

Sean Butcher came closest to making it three when he headed past when meeting a Sargent free-kick.

Locos boss Richard Hastings, meanwhile, said: “The important thing is boys got minutes under their belts.

“New players getting bedded in gives us the chance to look at some younger players as well as some trialists.”

Broch kick off their season in the Premier Sports Cup on July 9 when Derek McInnes’ Championship visitors Kilmarnock head north. They host Deveronvale in their league opener on July 23, while Locos are away to Clach.