Reigning Breedon Highland League champions Fraserburgh beat Forres Mechanics 3-0 in an entertaining Bellslea encounter.
Broch boss Mark Cowie was delighted his side’s got Wednesday night’s 5-0 hammering at Glebe Park in Brechin City out of their system in what was their penultimate game of the campaign.
He said: “I thought we played well on the back of a bad result on Wednesday night, especially considering the changes we made.
“We brought in a lot of young kids, but that’s what the Broch are known for. We are now at a stage where we can try these things as we can’t get any higher, or lower in the table.
“I thought that Paul Young ran the show, he was immense, and how he didn’t get the man of the match award I’ll never know.”
Broch make breakthrough early
In the fifth minute, Fraserburgh took the lead when youngster Callum Kelly cut the ball back for Connor Wood to side-foot home from six yards.
Only a fabulous flying save by Joe Barbour stopped a point-blank Ben Barron effort from giving Forres an equaliser as the visitors pushed forward.
In the 26th minute, Callum Johnston bundled Scott Barbour over in the corner of the box. Barbour took the penalty kick himself, but young Corey Patterson brought off a brilliant save to fist the ball away.
It was 2-0 in the 39th minute, though, when Scott Barbour cut in from the left and drilled the ball across. The ball did cannon off a Forres defender on its way into the net, but Barbour righty claimed it.
With a left footed shot from 5 yards into the bottom left corner of the net after Logan Watt passed the ball to him to make it 2-0 Broch (39) #theBroch @leagueHighland pic.twitter.com/eoxGc2zVe0
— Fraserburgh FC (@FraserburghFC) April 15, 2023
Only the outstretched foot of keeper Joe Barbour at the other end stopped Barron from pulling one back a minute from the break.
With two minutes to go, Logan Watt ran on to a threaded pass to beat young Patterson from eight yards and round off the scoring.
Forres manager Steven MacDonald was fairly pleased with his young side’s performance.
He said: “The big difference is that we gave away a soft goal early on when we dropped the man, and it makes it very difficult after that against a side of Fraserburgh’s calibre.
“We are the better team for much of that first half, but you just can’t give away goals like that.
“We tried hard in the second half when they had the wind at their backs, but found it difficult to make inroads into the game after the break.”
Banks o’ Dee 9-1 Strathspey Thistle
Banks o’ Dee announced the appointment of co-managers Josh Winton and Paul Lawson on a permanent basis after their 9-1 win over Strathspey Thistle at Spain Park.
Winton and Lawson were placed in charge until the end of the season in January after the sacking of Jamie Watt and Roy McBain.
But having won the GPH Builders Merchants Highland League Cup last weekend, the duo will continue beyond the summer with Alex Gray staying on as assistant manager.
Dee president Brian Winton said: “We’re delighted to confirm the appointment of Josh and Paul as our permanent management team and that Alex will continue in his role as assistant.
“It’s a natural step for us after the success of our first season in the Highland League and as we look to build for the future.”
Against Strathspey Lachie MacLeod’s angled strike put Dee ahead before a brace of neat finishes from Chris Antoniazzi made it 3-0.
The Grantown Jags responded with Michael Mackenzie volleying home Ross Logan’s cross.
Hat trick hero! ⚽️⚽️⚽️ pic.twitter.com/z4NSEC27jj
— Banks O' Dee FC (@banksodee_fc) April 15, 2023
Mark Gilmour played captain Kane Winton through and the skipper made it 4-1 on the stroke of half-time.
After the break Mark Gilmour added the fifth and Rob Armstrong finished from a Ramsay Davidson delivery to make it six.
Gilmour then netted two more to complete a hat-trick before Kane Winton completed the scoring late on.
Joint-boss Josh Winton said: “We were a little bit sloppy early on which we anticipated might happen after the high of last weekend.
“In the second half, we were pretty ruthless and our decision-making was a lot better.”
Strathspey manager Robert MacCormack said: “We were poor and didn’t play as well as we have in recent weeks.
“Banks o’ Dee were very good and we got hammered by a much better team on the day.”
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