Inverurie Locos face a GPH Builders Merchants Highland League Cup last-eight trip to Brechin City after a hard-earned 10-man 3-2 victory over Rothes at Mackessack Park.
Inverurie opened the scoring in the ninth minute when Rothes’ Michael Finnis lost possession, the ball was crossed to the back post and Callum Duncan tapped it over the line from two yards.
Four minutes later, it was 2-0, when Locos skipper Greg Mitchell crashed an unstoppable 20-yarder past the helpless Sean McCarthy in the home goal.
In the 23rd minute, Rothes pulled a goal back – Greg Morrison finding space in the six-yard box to stab the ball into the corner of the net.
Then, two minutes later, Locos were reduced to 10-men when winger Nathan Meres swung an elbow into Gary Kerr’s face after the Rothes striker pulled him back. Referee Billy Baxter was left with no option but to flash a red card.
Four minutes after the restart, it took a flying tip over from Zack Ellis in the Locos goal to stop Fraser Robertson scoring the equaliser with a fine 15-yarder.
With three minutes to go, Locos looked to have put the game to bed when Mitchell took full advantage of Rothes pushing forward in hope of a leveller, the visiting captain sweeping home his second of the afternoon from 12 yards.
In the 90th minute, however, Rothes’ Liam McDade curled a beauty into the top corner from just inside the box.
A minute later Bruce Milne saw his header clatter back off the crossbar, but it was all too little, too late for the Speysiders.
Locos’ manager Andy Low felt his team deserved to progress, and said: “We are a team searching for something, for a team performance maybe, and I think we saw that today – even with 10 men, I felt we were the better side.
“We knew Rothes would have more of the ball, but they had it in areas where they weren’t going to hurt us, (and) I always felt that on the break with 10 men we had something about us.
“I thought that up until Nathan Meres sending off we looked like we were going on to win the game comfortably, but we deserved this victory as we’ve been working so hard, but – until today – without conviction.”
Disappointed Rothes manager Ross Jack said: “We were really slow out of the traps and before we knew it we found ourselves 2-0 down.
“They were far better than us early on and we didn’t really get into the game until Greg Morrison made it 2-1.
“When they had a man sent off there was no reason for us to panic, and although we controlled the game, we just couldn’t get the equaliser. Then we switched off at a throw-in and Locos went on to score a third goal.”
Both sides finish with 10 men at North Lodge Park – but Brechin progress
Brechin City will face Inverurie Locos at Glebe Park in the quarter-finals of the Highland League Cup following their 3-1 first round victory over Formartine United at North Lodge Park.
It was a tough, uncompromising encounter – a fact acknowledged by City boss Andy Kirk at the end of the 90 minutes.
“It was a very competitive game and we knew that that was always going to be the case,” he said.
“Formartine have a lot of good players, they’re structured well, they work really hard and they have a lot of pace upfront, so we knew it was going to be a really tough game.
“We made a number of changes, as we have a small squad and a number of the boys have played 15 games or so since pre-season, and we have a few players with niggling injuries, but I thought that the players who came in did really well.
“We controlled large spells of the first-half and went in at the break deservedly ahead.
“The second-half was a bit to and fro, but we defended really well, so, all in all, I’m very pleased with the performance and result.”
Home side United grabbed the lead after just eight minutes when a great cross from Adam Emslie found ex-Brechin player Julian Wade, who volleyed the ball home.
But City fought back to equalise when Liam Duell curled home a terrific right foot drive in the 29th minute, and the visitors got their noses in front seven minutes before the break when Stuart Heenan outpaced the home defence before slotting the ball into the bottom corner of the net.
Both sides were reduced to 10 men early in the second-half after City’s Ewan White was sent off for a challenge on Stuart Smith, to be followed by Dylan Lobban a couple of minutes later after a tackle on Seth Patrick.
Although hosts Formartine exerted a lot of pressure on the City defence, a blistering drive from Marc Scott with four minutes remaining wrapped up the victory for the Angus men.
Formartine boss Stuart Anderson said: “I’m obviously disappointed to be out of the cup.
“In terms of general play, I didn’t think that there was an awful lot in it – but at key moments Brechin were better than us.
“Goals change games and Brechin took their chances.
“There were a number of good individual performances, but we’ll lick our wounds and be ready to go again.”
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