Clachnacuddin were denied a victory against Fraserburgh right at the end as a terrific Grant Street contest ended in a 1-1 draw.
On-loan Caley Jags midfielder Harry Hennem gave the Inverness team a first half advantage and were on course for all three points.
However, in the 93rd minute a Sean Butcher header sealed a share of the spoils for the grateful visitors.
The Lilywhites overtook Banks o’ Dee and Turriff to move 11th with this result.
Despite a difference of 31 points in favour of Broch before kick-off, this was a meeting of two in-form teams.
The Merkinchers were on a four-game unbeaten stretch, with their 2-2 draw at Strathspey following three successive wins.
Fifth-placed Fraserburgh’s 3-0 weekend win at Rothes made it six victories in their last nine outings.
When Clach visited the current HFL champions back in October, they fell to a 5-0 defeat, so would have been determined to further demonstrate their progress since then.
It was, however, Fraserburgh who began with the greater sense of urgency as Willie West headed over the top and Scott Barbour slashed a shot into the side-netting.
At the other end, Lewis Mackenzie weaved his way into the box and drew a comfortable save from Joe Barbour.
Jamie Beagrie’s raking 30-yarder pulled too much to the right to test Rae, while Clach forward Connor Bunce was off the mark with a shot from just inside the area.
1-0 pic.twitter.com/GqmOIsYWJ0
— Inverness Clachnacuddin FC (@clachfc) April 5, 2023
Home goalkeeper Daniel Rae was in sparkling form as he pulled off key saves from West and Ryan Sargent.
Clach found their way through to goal though on 36 minutes when two on-loan Inverness players combined.
A swift attack saw the ball played by Robbie Thompson to ever-alert Hennem and his composed close-range finish took the ball past goalkeeper Barbour.
The Broch roared back at the end of the first half with another fine Rae stop keeping out Kieran Simpson’s header as he touched it over the crossbar.
Hennem, full of confidence, tried his luck with a shot from just over the halfway line but the ball spun beyond the right post.
Barbour thought he had squared the contest on 57 minutes when he planted a header into the net from 10 yards, but the offside flag cut short his celebrations, but the Broch were knocking at the door in a feisty affair.
Clach, to their credit, were defending manfully and always a threat when they hit with numbers.
Rae was doing all he could to earn a clean sheet and he got down smartly to block a Sargent shot as the forward broke into the box.
With a header from 6 yards into the bottom left corner of the net after Connor Wood’s right footed cross to him to make it 1-1 (90) #theBroch @leagueHighland pic.twitter.com/1hLqw0heej
— Fraserburgh FC (@FraserburghFC) April 5, 2023
The Broch, as the match progressed, were misplacing passes and confidence seemed to be ebbing away.
However, with the final move of the match, Connor Wood’s cross was headed into the net by Butcher.
Clach are away to Nairn County on Saturday, while Fraserburgh’s next fixture is next Wednesday when they travel to title contenders Brechin City.
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