After beating Buckie Thistle in impressive fashion Brora Rangers boss Steven Mackay is relishing next weekend’s top of the table Breedon Highland League clash with Brechin City.
The Cattachs defeated the Jags, who finished with 10 men, 4-1 at Dudgeon Park to make it 30 points out of 36 this term.
Brora are second in the table, seven points behind leaders Brechin, but with a game in hand, ahead of the sides clashing at Glebe Park on Saturday.
Mackay said: “It’s going to be a massive test for us, Brechin have been the most consistent out of everyone this season, hence their league position.
“It will be a tough game, but we go there with confidence after this performance and how dangerous we look going forward.
“These are the games we want to be involved, this is the reason I’m here, I want to be at the top end of the league challenging for titles.
“We’ve said that from the start of the season and we feel we’re ready.”
Reflecting on Brora’s first victory against Buckie since the R Davidson (Banchory) Highland League Cup final in April 2022, Mackay added: “We’re delighted to get the win and the manner of it was really pleasing.
“In the games against the top six this season we’ve been really professional and efficient in going about our business.
“If you’d said beforehand we’d win 4-1 I’d have snapped your hand off. It was important for us after losing at Deveronvale in our last league game.”
Match action
There was a slickness about Brora’s attacking play throughout and it took them four minutes to break the deadlock.
James Wallace’s cross from the left broke for Tony Dingwall on the right side of the penalty area. He cut the ball back for Jordan MacRae whose shot from 12 yards bounced down off the underside of the crossbar and over the line.
Referee Owen Lawrence and assistant Jana Brady gave the goal and video evidence later showed they had made the correct call.
Buckie’s best chance of the first period came on 32 minutes when Lyall Keir caught Michael Finnis in possession inside the box, but goalkeeper Cammy Mackay saved well at his near post.
Two minutes later the Cattachs doubled their lead. Andrew Macleod – making his first appearance after joining on loan from Ross County – broke away down the right and squared the ball for MacRae.
His attempted chipped finish was blocked by goalkeeper Mark Ridgers but the loose ball found its way to Wallace who curled an excellent shot into the right corner from 16 yards.
The visitors were unhappy with the build up, claiming that Macleod was offside and that MacRae was in front of the ball and also offside.
Cattachs kick on
Three minutes into the second half Brora thought they’d made it 3-0 when Dingwall’s free-kick from the right was finished by Colin Williamson at the back post, with Buckie again appealing for offside.
The ‘goal’ was disallowed because assistant referee Gary Carroll wasn’t ready for the game to restart as he was noting down the booking for Darryl McHardy, who had clipped Shane Sutherland’s heels, which led to the free-kick.
After an hour McHardy received a second yellow card and was sent off by referee Lawrence following an off the ball collision with MacRae.
In the 75th minute Brora did get their third when Macleod’s inswinging corner from the left – which Thistle disputed the award of – was finished by Finnis from close range.
MacRae notched his second and Brora’s fourth in the first minute of injury time by sweeping home Max Ewan’s cross from the right.
With the final kick of the ball Buckie got a consolation as Marcus Goodall blasted a shot from 25 yards into the top left corner.
Munro has no complaints
Champions Thistle are 18 points behind leaders Brechin having played a game fewer.
Player-assistant manager Hamish Munro said: “Our expectations were to be up there challenging again.
“I thought we’d be in a better position than we are, but there’s still a lot to play for this season.
“We can’t argue with the result, we got outplayed and outbattled at times, Brora are a good team and they played well.
“It would be easy for us to say the officials got a few things wrong. But we have to be bigger and better than blame them, our performance is something we need to focus on rather than officials.
“At the same time it is frustrating a few have gone against us that we thought were easy decisions.
“But you create your own luck and we’re not blaming anyone, we just focus on trying to improve our performance.”
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