Clachnacuddin boss Jordan MacDonald was delighted to see his side pick up their first win of the season against Huntly.
A Connor Bunce first half goal saw Clachnacuddin secure a 1-0 win over Huntly at Christie Park.
Huntly were awarded a penalty in the eighth minute, before Clach scored the opener, when Andy Hunter was taken down by the Clach goalkeeper. However, Martin Mackinnon saved the spotkick, which was taken by Hunter.
MacDonald said: “We were the better team in the first half playing some lovely stuff, the only mistake we made was conceding the penalty but it was a brilliant save from Martin (Mackinnon). I thought his double-save in the second half showed why we believe he’s the best keeper in the league.
“James Anderson set up the goal for Connor (Bunce) and I don’t think he got enough credit for his hold-up play and it was down to that the goal has come from.”
The Lilywhites took the lead in the 23rd minute when Anderson got in behind the Huntly defence before playing the ball back to Bunce, who fired low into the bottom corner for his first of the season.
Huntly had decent chances to pull level in the second-half but Mackinnon pulled off two good saves to deny Hunter, while substitute Reece McKeown saw his shot ricochet off the crossbar.
Five minutes into stoppage time, Huntly’s day went from bad to worse, as they were reduced to 10 men when Gavin Elphinstone picked up a second caution.
After a penalty miss and a red card, Huntly manager Allan Hale admitted a bad start was costly for his side.
He said: “The first half performance is one I’m not willing to accept from any player for this club. We started positively and got ourselves a penalty – some you score, some you don’t and we’ve missed one again.
“We can’t allow ourselves to allow negative moments like missing a penalty or conceding a goal affect our performance and we did. We dropped well below the minimum standard of what is expected here.
“In the second half we looked fitter and had our opportunities, but I’m left bemoaning that lack of quality in the last third.”
Brechin’s narrow win at Forres shows need to be more ruthless
Brechin City manager Andy Kirk insists his team will have to be more ruthless and aggressive in front of goal following their narrow 1-0 victory over Forres Mechanics at Mosset Park.
City grabbed the only goal of the game in the 26th minute when McHattie picked up a loose ball 30 yards out and unleashed a tremendous left-foot drive which soared into the top corner of the net.
The hosts were reduced to 10 men three minutes after Brechin took the lead, as Ben Barron was shown a second-yellow for simulation.
Brechin boss Kirk was happy with the win, but says his side must be more aggressive and clinical in front of goal.
He said: “We’re obviously pleased with the fact that we’ve had two clean sheets and six points from our opening two games and that’s a positive in itself.
“We didn’t start the game particularly well and were a bit sloppy. We then scored a wonderful goal through Kevin McHattie and that lifted us out of that wee gloomy bit at the start and we began to play a bit better.
“We spoke to the players at half-time about doing things sharper and keeping the play moving quickly, but we just didn’t do enough of it.
“We were too slow in our build-up and when we got crosses into the box there wasn’t enough players there and when we did have players in the box our crosses were really poor. Having said that, we did have a number of opportunities to score further goals but we just couldn’t find the net.
“When you’re only a goal ahead you run the risk of getting caught out and that almost happened towards the end so we have to be more aggressive, ruthless and clinical in front of goal and the players need to take more responsibility when chances come along.”
Forres boss Steven Steven MacDonald felt that his side put up a good performance even when they were reduced to 10 men, a decision he thought was far too harsh.
He said: “I think we can take a lot of credit from the game despite the circumstances we found ourselves in with the loss of Ben.
“We started the game really well but the sending off made a difference which we couldn’t recover from.
“Despite being reduced to 10 men, I thought that the lads played really well which augurs well for the season ahead.”