An Owen Paterson penalty sent Strathspey Thistle through to the next round of the GPH Builders Merchants Highland League Cup after a closely-fought tie against Lossiemouth at Grant Park.
Thistle’s reward for their first victory of the season is a home quarter-final tie against Fraserburgh on September 9.
Delighted Jags boss Robert McCormack said: “We weren’t great in the first half, but much better in the second half and probably deserved to win the game.
“We’ve had a really hard start against a few of the top teams in the league, so today is a confidence-builder – it shows we can compete and will compete with teams that will be in among us.”
Lossie started brightly, a Dean Stewart free-kick producing a fine save from Jags’ keeper Steve Martin.
From the resultant corner, Stewart headed inches past the upright.
Lossie had another chance when Ryan Farquhar raced clear on goal in the 23rd minute, but Martin was quick off his line to thwart the danger.
The Jags enjoyed their best spell at the tail end of the half. Jack Davidson flashing a shot past the post before a Michael McKenzie effort was blocked on the six-yard line.
Strathspey upped their game in the start of the second half, and they almost took the lead on the hour mark when Alan Kerr forced a point-blank save from Lossie keeper Oliver Kelly after good work from Ross Logan.
McKenzie followed up with a piledriver of a shot, which whizzed just past Kelly’s left-hand post.
The pressure finally paid off for the visiting Jags in the 87th minute.
Kelly hauled down sub Owen Loveland inside the box just as he was about to shoot. The keeper escaped with a yellow card, but Paterson made no mistake from 12 yards.
In a hectic finish to the tie, Lossie’s James Leslie was denied by a goal-line clearance from Kerr, and the home side were denied a penalty of their own in stoppage time when forward Brandon Hutcheson appeared to be clipped inside the box, but nothing was given.
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— Rob MacCormack (@rob_mac7) August 26, 2023
Lossie manager Frank McGettrick said: “I’m very disappointed.
“We played quite well in the first half and had two or three good chances.
“But we were out-fought in the second half. They did the basics better than us and deserved to win over the 90 minutes.
“I was disappointed with us in the second half – we were waiting for things to happen, instead of making them happen.”
Super-sub Joey Wilson the Keith hero in five-goal thriller with Nairn County
Keith were rewarded with a home GPH Builders Merchants Highland League Cup quarter-final tie at home to Buckie Thistle following their 3-2 win in a five-goal first-round thriller against Nairn County.
County twice clawed back Keith ‘s lead at Kynoch Park, before substitute Joey Wilson – on the park for a minute – rifled home the winner and his first Keith goal to give the Maroons their first League Cup win in almost four years.
Keith manager Craig Ewen said: “It was certainly a good cup-tie, played at 100 miles per hour.
“In the first half, we were excellent – my only complaint at half-time was that we weren’t four or five goals up.
“We created a lot of chances, and were brave on the ball, and that’s basically how I’d like my Keith team to play.
“In the second half, we sat in for 20 minutes inviting Nairn on, but, fair play to the boys, they showed mettle and it was a great winner for Joey.
“It was great to get through, but, at the same time, you can’t play for 20 minutes like that in the second half and expect to win matches.”
Jordan Lynch should have given Keith a sixth minute lead, but shot straight at Nairn goalie Dylan MacLean.
Four minutes later, though, Mikey Taylor won a header off a super Kieran Yeats cross and Jordan Cooper rammed the loose ball home.
Within nine minutes, Nairn levelled when a Conor Gethins free-kick was headed home by Fraser Dingwall.
The homesters regained the lead in the 23rd minute following a Yeats corner. James Brownie stretching to head into the roof of the net.
Gavin Elphinstone then rifled home for Keith, but the goal was chalked off for offside, and – a minute from the break – a super save from MacLean kept out a Craig Gill thunderbolt.
The Maroons sat back for a spell after the break, though, and Nairn equalised in the 63rd minute through Andrew MacLeod.
But Keith dug in, and the winner came in the 76th minute when super-sub Wilson kept a cool head to drill a low drive into the net to send the home camp wild.
Nairn assistant manager Brian MacLeod said: “Over the piece Keith deserved to go through. They were by far the better team in the first half.
“Although we got a better response in the second half, their third goal knocked the stuffing out of us.”
Brindle nets treble as Brora beat Clach 7-0
Brora Rangers made comfortable progress into the quarter-finals of the GPH Builders Merchants Highland League Cup, beating Clachnacuddin 7-0 at Dudgeon Park.
Among Brora’s goals were a Paul Brindle hat-trick, a double for substitute Jordan MacRae and a counter for returning signing Kyle MacLeod.
A delighted Cattachs manager Ally Macdonald – whose side will now host Forres Mechanics in the last-eight – said: “It was a great reaction to last week (league draw with Lossiemouth).
“We worked hard, the intensity was there, the quality was there, and we wanted to keep that standard for the whole game.
“We have a deeper squad now, and we reaped the rewards when Jordan MacRae came off the bench to score twice.”
Brora’s first goal came after 15 minutes. Ali Sutherland played a piercing pass through the heart of the defence. Brindle picked it up on the left-side of the 18-yard-box and crossed along the ground to Max Ewan, who composed himself before slotting home.
On his second debut for the home side after returning from Buckie Thistle, MacLeod then linked up well with Brindle and Macdonald to fire the ball into the net from just inside the box.
The Cattachs didn’t let up, with Tom Kelly flying down the right wing and sending a low cross in for Brindle to put away. Brindle would then slip the ball past Rae in the Clach goal again a few minutes later.
There were a host of changes near the start of the second half for both sides, but there was no change in the direction of travel in the game.
With arguably the goal of the game, man of the match Brindle took possession outside the box and the curled the ball into the top corner of the net to complete his hat-trick and make it 5-0.
Not wanting to miss out, MacRae then came off the bench to make it six, and then seven in quick succession, for the hosts.
A dejected Clachnacuddin manager Jordan Macdonald said: “We were well beat.
“We gave away goals, we had nothing, didn’t work hard enough, didn’t keep our shape.
“We got punished by a very good team today.”
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