Forres Mechanics and Clachnacuddin shared the spoils after a hard-fought 1-1 draw in the Breedon Highland League at Mosset Park.
A first-half strike from Lewis Mackenzie for the visitors was cancelled out by Lee Fraser’s header after the switch of ends.
Forres had the first chance when Mark Mclauchlan’s dipping shot from 25 yards landed on the roof of the net after 12 minutes.
Jack Grant’s free-kick from 30 yards surprised everyone when it crashed off the crossbar for the home side after a quarter of an hour.
It was Clachnacuddin that took the lead after 21 minutes, though, as Mackenzie took full advantage of a loose Forres clearance to slam in at the near post from eight yards.
1-0 clach! pic.twitter.com/B4I2eXtkQB
— Inverness Clachnacuddin FC (@clachfc) October 11, 2023
Forres brought on winger Dylan Lawrence at the start of the second half and he nodded a Mclauchlan cross wide just two minutes after the break.
Lee Fraser, up from centre-back, then passed up a chance to equalise on the hour mark when the ball broke to him just inside the box and he was denied by Clach substitute goalkeeper Daniel Rae, who replaced the injured Douglas Maclennan before half-time.
Just four minutes later, Fraser was on the scoresheet as he nodded a Grant cross in from six yards to level the scores at 1-1.
Forres should have completed a quickfire turnaround on 70 minutes when Calum Howarth’s ball over the top found Craig Mackenzie – but he was denied by Rae at close range.
Lewis Mackenzie had a huge chance to win the game for Clach late on after a Samba Badjana mistake, but Lee Herbert in the Forres goal denied him.
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