Deveronvale produced a major shock by defeating Breedon Highland League title challengers Brora Rangers 3-2 at Princess Royal Park.
Vale manager Garry Wood praised his players after a hard-earned home victory against the Cattachs, who are now seven points behind leaders Brechin City but with a game in hand.
Wood said “On the back of a tough shift at Turriff on Wednesday evening the performance levels they displayed were superb and we deserved to get the three points on the day.
“Our front three were tremendous as we went with a different shape and it caused Brora problems with us getting the ball in behind them as we got two goals and we could have got more in the first half.
“We know Brora have quality and they would come back at us but we stood up to it really well with the central defensive pairing of Jamie Maclellan and Murray Esson continuing to build up an understanding which is improving with each game they play.
“This was a whole team performance and it sets us up for what will be a very difficult Scottish Cup tie against Bo’ness who are playing well in the Lowland League.”
Brora manager Steven Mackay was extremely unhappy with his side’s performance.
He said: “We deserved to lose the game as we didn’t turn up on the day and didn’t do the basics right which we usually do very well . We didn’t work hard enough nor press the ball to create opportunities.
“Far too many players had an off day and when that happens you don’t win games of football. The goals we lost were given away far too easily.
“We did get back into the game with a goal early in the second half but we then lost another goal which was equally as bad as the first two.
“Credit to Deveronvale who worked harder than us and deserved to win the game.”
Ben Hermiston put Vale ahead after ten minutes before the striker doubled the advantage nine minutes later by heading home from close range after superb wing play from Jack Mitchell.
Substitute Colin Williamson pulled one back for Brora three minutes into the second half but Rogan Read’s deflected fourteen yard shot on the hour mark again following fine set up play from Mitchell restored the two goal advantage.
Shane Sutherland grabbed a last minute strike but it didn’t deny Vale a famous win.
Lossiemouth 3-1 Fraserburgh
Fraserburgh slumped to 12th spot in the Breedon Highland League table with Lossiemouth now just two places behind them after the Coasters’ 3-1 victory at Grant Park.
The visitors led 1-0 with less than quarter of an hour to go but the home side took advantage of some poor Broch defending with Brodie Christie netting a double and fellow substitute, David Gofton, adding a last-gasp third.
Lossie caretaker manager Gavin Price said: “Brodie Christie came on and did well but all of the substitutes made a good impact.
“All the team did well, we looked like a team today for the full 90 minutes. We looked like a threat and we looked organised.
“I was happy at half-time with the way that we’d played and later in the game we got our rewards.
“The performance was night and day compared to the home game against Nairn County last weekend. It was a really good team effort and I’m delighted for them.”
In a fairly even, and uninspiring first half, Lossie keeper Stuart Knight had to fly across goal to turn a Stuart Laird 20-yarder round the post as the visitors started to turn the screw.
On the stroke of half-time at the other end Owen Loveland fired over the top from eight yards.
In the first three minutes of the second half Knight produced two superb diving saves to deny Scott Barbour and then Logan Watt.
The Broch opened the scoring in the 54th minute when Willie West nodded the ball back into the path of Watt and he gave Knight no chance with a tremendous 15-yard curling drive.
Lossie levelled in the 76th minute when keeper Joe Barbour’s attempted clearance only picked out Lossie substitute Brodie Christie and he rifled the ball home from 10 yards.
Two minutes from time Christie did it again, this time the striker rammed the ball home from six yards after Barbour dropped a high cross ball under pressure from two Lossie strikers.
Two minutes later Barbour made a mess of a pass-back and substitute David Gofton had the simplest of tasks of prodding the ball into the unguarded net from four yards.
Broch assistant-manager James Duthie said: “I thought we were reasonably comfortable at 1-0 up and at that stage it looked like if any team was going to score it would be us again.
“However, three horrendous errors have gifted Lossiemouth the game, all three of the goals were shambolic.
“You’ll never get anything from this league if you are going to gift the opposing team goals like that.
“Take nothing away from Lossie, they worked hard and took their chances when they came.”
Clachnacuddin 0-3 Banks o’ Dee
Co-manager Paul Lawson was pleased to see Banks o’ Dee return to winning ways by beating Clachnacuddin 3-0 at Grant Street Park.
Following a midweek reverse to Breedon Highland League leaders Brechin City, Dee got back on track with a win in Inverness and remain fourth in the table.
Lawson said: “It was a very good game with both sides going at it.
“Getting the first goal early was good for us and after we got the second I thought we were comfortable.
“We’re very pleased with how we bounced back after Wednesday.
“Iain Vigurs showed his quality, we know the quality he’s got. He’s maybe at a stage where he can’t play every game, but he came in and was excellent.
“Kacper Lewecki also came in and was outstanding.”
Dee took a third minute lead when Lachie MacLeod finished from Kane Winton’s through ball.
Eight minutes later the ball was in the Clach net again when Iain Vigurs’ attempt from long range took a deflection off Josh Meekings.
The visitors also had a Vigurs goal disallowed and clipped the crossbar through Hamish MacLeod, but netted their third quarter of an hour from time.
Chris Antoniazzi was tripped by Jacob Kerr inside the box and Liam Duell converted the resultant penalty.
The Lilywhites are sixth in the table and boss Conor Gethins said: “Banks o’ Dee were just the better team, they won every second ball, created the better chances and looked like they wanted it more than our boys.
“The latter of those things is probably the most disappointing thing from our point of view.
“It was a frustrating day for us, but I said to the boys after the game that we’ve come a long way and they should be proud of what we’ve done so far.”
Nairn County 3-3 Strathspey Thistle
A Ben Barron hat-trick was not enough to secure maximum points for Nairn County in a thrilling 3-3 draw with Strathspey Thistle at Station Park.
The visitors had the better of the first half and were ahead at the break thanks to a beautifully crafted goal from Paul Brindle, but Barron’s treble in a topsy-turvy second half, which included a late leveller ensured the match ended all-square.
Nairn County boss Ross Tokely said: “We were miles off the pace in the first half. We made a couple of changes at half time, I just had to change the shape from what we’d being doing. But we conceded poor goals after putting a lot of hard work in to go 2-1 up.
“We showed a bit of character to come back to get a deserved point.
“After our first half performance the quality in the final third in the second half was really good.
“We were playing on the front foot, just what I’ve been looking for, but we can’t shut the back door.”
Strathspey made a bright start and they took the lead in the 29th minute. Liam Shewan’s through ball found Brindle and the Jags’ striker deftly chipped Dylan MacLean in the Nairn goal.
Nairn made a couple of changes at the start of the second half with Tyler Eadie and Alan Pollock replacing Jonathan Bain and Gary Kerr.
It paid off with an equaliser in the 52nd minute. Andrew Greig started the move and James Williamson whipped in a cross for Barron to finish from close range.
Barron was on target again in the 63rd minute when he controlled a cross from Scott Lisle and fired the ball into the net for a glorious finish.
It was all-square again six minutes later when the visitors were awarded a penalty after Nairn skipper Fraser Dingwall fouled Liam Shewan in the box. Shewan dusted himself down and made no mistake from the spot.
Thistle went ahead for the second time in the match in the 75th minute when Filip Franczak burst clear from the halfway line to fire past MacLean.
Nairn substitute Matthew Wright made an instant impact when his goalbound shot in the 81st minute was parried and Barron followed up to knock in the rebound for his treble.
Strathspey manager Ryan Esson said: “We were away from home against a decent Nairn team so it was a good point for us, but it should have been three in my opinion.
“The first half was excellent but in the second half we conceded two goals from our set pieces, which is something we can look back and learn from. Realistically we should see the game out at 3-2.”
Forres Mechanics 4-3 Wick Academy
Forres Mechanics were 4-3 winners after an eventful, end-to-end clash against Wick Academy at Mosset Park.
Goals from Kyle MacLeod, Jordan Alonge, Mark McLauchlan and Calum Frame provided three points for the home side.
Wick’s goals were netted by Gary Pullen (2) and Gordon MacNab, while both sides had a man sent off – Owen Rendall for Wick and Kyle MacLeod for Forres.
Forres boss Steven MacDonald said: “I’m delighted to get the win again and delighted that the boys are learning to be more resilient.
“We certainly weren’t near our best and Wick were excellent. They were really good and caused us a lot of problems.
“It was just a crazy game and I’m so relieved to win it.”
Wick came flying out of the traps and had three chances in the opening 10 minutes.
Gordon MacNab drilled a 25-yard effort just wide inside 90 seconds, Marc McGregor was denied by Cammy Farquhar on five minutes and Gary Pullen fired just over a few minutes later.
The visitors’ well-earned lead came on 14 minutes when MacGregor’s shot was blocked by Farquhar into the path of Pullen to knock into an empty net from eight yards.
Forres equalised with their first chance five minutes later as a mis-hit Wick clearance landed on the forehead of a diving Kyle MacLeod.
Wick defender Owen Rendall was shown a straight red for a last-man challenge on Calum Frame 10 minutes before half-time.
An entertaining first period ended with the Can-Cans in the lead. A free-kick was flicked on by MacLeod and Jordan Alonge controlled and fired high into the net for 2-1.
Forres’ man advantage was wiped out on 48 minutes when MacLeod was shown a second yellow for kicking the ball away.
Mechanics doubled their advantage minutes after going down a man when Mark McLauchlan’s powerful strike from 22 yards flew into the right-hand corner.
The hosts’ two-goal lead lasted just three minutes as MacGregor led Wick down the right before squaring for MacNab to knock into an empty net.
The lead was completely wiped out when Gary Pullen beat his man and fired a well-hit effort out of the reach of Cammy Farquhar on 66 minutes.
Substitute Matt Jamieson set up Frame to score the winning goal 10 minutes from the end.
Wick boss Gary Manson said: “We started like a house on fire. In the first 25 minutes we had them camped in.
“It’s really frustrating and it’s just the way it’s going for us at the moment.”
Brechin City 2-1 Rothes
Brechin City extended their lead at the top of the Highland League table following a narrow 2-1 victory over Rothes at Glebe Park.
City’s lead over second-placed Brora Rangers, who lost at Deveronvale, has increased to seven points although Brora have a game in hand.
Brechin got off to a perfect start with barely three minutes on the clock when Ewan Loudon picked up the ball midway in the Rothes half and surged forward before blasting home a cracking right-foot drive into the roof of the net.
They doubled their advantage eight minutes later when Seth Patrick fired home a superb drive from 25 yards.
Thereafter City created a number of chances but they were shocked in the 69th minute when Ross Logan spotted City keeper Issac Carmody well off his line and lobbed the keeper from 30 yards which meant a nervous final 20 minutes for the hosts.
Brechin manager Patrick Cregg said: “In the first half if you’d been a paying customer you would have been really entertained because I thought that we were really good to watch.
“Our effort levels and our ability to counter-press, regain the ball and constantly counter-press in their half was everything that we wanted.
“In the second half we were a little flat, our tempo and our play slowed down and Rothes scored an unbelievable goal.
“Looking at things over the course of the week, we’ve won three games but as today proved winning games is really, really hard.
“But do we want to be better? Of course we do.”
Rothes manager Richard Hastings said: “We let ourselves down in the first half but we came out in the second half with a new energy and new fight and I felt that we were worthy of a goal.
“We have to learn to put 90 minutes together and compete for the whole game.
“However, things are improving, we’re a young group, we’ve brought new players in and it’s a matter of things bedding in.”
Formartine United 3-1 Huntly
Formartine United extended their unbeaten run over opponents Huntly in the league to 12 games with a 3-1 home victory.
United Manager Stuart Anderson felt his side should have built on an impressive start
He said: “Julian Wade is capable of goals like that. It’s probably our goal of the season already and it obviously a good start for us.
“In the first half we should’ve been four or five up and at 2-0 up the momentum can always swing.
“Credit to Huntly as they put us under pressure in the second half and Ewen Macdonald has had a few saves while we’ve hit the post ourselves.
“I’m delighted as that’s 14 points out of the last 18 and momentum is with us in terms of league form. We just need to keep building on that.”
The hosts were ahead with just under three minutes gone through a superb goal when Julian Wade netted his fourth of the campaign with a shot on the bounce from 35 yards out.
United doubled their advantage through Callum Youngson when the midfielder got in behind the visitors defence before finishing with a low drive.
Huntly came out in the second half showing a big improvement and were denied by the woodwork on 54 minutes.
Ryan Sewell sent in a free kick for Ross Still whose header came off the post before Finlay Allen was denied by Macdonald two minutes later.
Huntly continued to threaten and a low cross from Brodie Allen found Angus Grant who was denied by a great save from Macdonald.
A minute later Macdonald came to the rescue again with a point-blank stop against Ryan Sewell.
A minute into stoppage time, Huntly pulled a goal back when Owen Morris made it two goals in as many games with a deflected effort.
The hosts wrapped up the win four minutes into additional time when Tyler Mykyta was given time and space before drilling home.
Huntly Manager Colin Charlesworth said: “It was such a poor first half showing, it just wasn’t like us.
“We just didn’t do the right things and struggled to get to grips but in the second half we went at them but their keeper has pulled off some unbelievable saves.
“But if you fail to turn up for 45 minutes you can’t expect to take something at places like Formartine.”
Buckie Thistle 4-1 Turriff United
Two goals from Marcus Goodall inspired champions Buckie Thistle to a win over Turriff United at Victoria Park.
Jags boss Lewis Mackinnon said patience was the key in his side’s win.
He said: “It was a tight game overall, but I felt we were comfortable and controlled the game.
“We retained the ball well and at half time we urged them to continue to be patient and the opportunities would come.
“For a spell in the second half we were impatient and gave the ball away cheaply, but eventually the chances came late on and we got the win.
“Marcus (Goodall) is in great form, the goals are a bonus but it’s his off-the-ball work that I enjoy most.
“He’s putting in quality graft, winning the ball back and starting our counter press.”
Dale Wood got the home side off to a great start with the opener on three minutes, Andrew MacAskill threading a superb pass to Kevin Fraser on the right and his chipped cross was headed home from close range by Wood at the far post.
Turriff responded well and levelled through Timi Fatona in the 27th minute, early substitute Jack McKenzie with a quick free kick releasing Fatona in behind and he raced past Mark Ridgers to knock home the equaliser.
A minute into first half stoppage time, good work from MacAskill and Lyall Keir ended with Keir’s low ball in being blasted home by Goodall from close range.
Half time sub Jack MacIver then fired a chance into the side netting before Ridgers had to look sharp at the other end to turn Owen Kinsella’s 22-yard drive round the post.
Nine minutes from time, Fraser played Keir in behind and from his return pass, Fraser scooped a dipping effort beyond Lee Herbert and into the left corner of the net for a killer third.
Goodall completed the scoring three minutes later, bundling the ball in from three yards from a superb MacIver cross from the right.
Turriff manager Warren Cummings said: “The boys are understandably lacking in a bit of self-belief after the run we’ve been on.
“I felt that we weren’t good enough on the ball when we had it second half, when Buckie gave it away, we turned it over too quickly ourselves.
“We didn’t impose ourselves well enough when in possession, although I don’t think the scoreline is a proper reflection of what went on in the game.”
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