Deveronvale’s fine run of form in the Breedon Highland League continued as they picked up a deserved 3-1 win at Mosset Park over Forres Mechanics to record their third consecutive victory following wins over Turriff and Brora.
Adam Reid put the visitors ahead with a fine curling effort from 14 yards after 29 minutes but Forres hit back within two minutes when Jordan Alonge found the target with a 25-yard free kick.
Forres passed up a number of good opportunities and they were made to regret these after 51 minutes when Jack Mitchell superbly found space when he was hemmed in on the right and from his far post cross the ball broke for Mikey Watson to fire into the bottom corner.
Mitchell sealed the win for Vale with 17 minutes to go with a close range finish after Reid did the spadework following great defensive play from Jayden Goldie to start the move.
Garry Wood was unavailable due to suspension but the Vale manager was delighted with the victory.
He said: “The guys who came in for us did a great job as Jaydan Bradford and Mikey Watson hadn’t started for a while and both were excellent throughout but it was a whole team performance that won us the game.
“All the goals were well taken while we created other good chances.
“I thought we throughly deserved to win the game.
“We just need to keep winning games to get up the table but we are not going to get carried away. We need to stick to the things that are working for us.”
Forres manager Steve MacDonald said: “We didn’t play well enough to get the victory.
“We weren’t at the races as Vale dominated in midfield so I am disappointed with the overall level of performance.”
Inverurie Locos 2-3 Nairn County
Nairn County bounced back from their Scottish Cup loss at Clachnacuddin to record a shock 3-2 win against Inverurie Locos at Harlaw Park.
Ross Tokely, the Nairn boss, said: “The workrate and desire to do the dirty stuff was the real pleasing thing.
“The players responded well after going behind so soon after half time to a cheap penalty.
“At times we’ve shown a soft touch but this time we were so dangerous on the counter attack.
“We got to grips with the Locos’ diagonal balls which had been been giving us some scary moments, and I felt we deserved to win because of our danger on the break.”
Locos went in front in 49 minutes through Paul Coutts from the penalty spot after Mackintosh upended Cole Anderson.
Andrew Greig equalised a minute later with a clever shot into the corner.
The left winger then crossed in 62 minutes for Matthew Wright to lay the ball off to Callum McLean to net.
To the shock of the home support another Greig left wing supply was finished on the volley by Wright.
Calum Dingwall pulled a goal back deep into injury time.
Locos boss Dean Donaldson said: “Chances were created and not taken by us in the first half.
“We should have been two or three up at the break.
“In the second half we got ourselves a goal up and we were beaten by poor defending in wide areas.
“Nairn have a frontline that should see them challenge at the top of the table, they created and took their chances, that’s the story of the game.”
Fraserburgh 4-0 Keith
Fraserburgh made it 12 goals in two games when they scored four times at Bellslea Park against Keith.
Scott Barbour was the tormentor-in-chief, scoring one goal and laying on two others.
The previous week Broch had put eight past Rothes in the Scottish Cup.
Broch manager Mark Cowie said: “I’m getting happier with the performances, and that’s also two clean sheets on the bounce.
“Although we faced two strikers we marshalled well, and I don’t think our goalie Joe (Barbour) had much to do.
“We weren’t giving much away, the silly mistakes we’ve been making are stopping.
“Plus, we’ve got Scott Barbour who can always create something.
“Everybody knows what I think of him, he scored one and laid on two.
“Our shape was good the whole game really, so overall I would say I’m quite happy.”
The hosts opened the scoring in the 13th minute when a Horace Ormsby shot was turned round the post by Barbour for a Keith corner. The corner was cleared upfield and Scott Barbour set up Aidan Sopel who made no mistake from 10 yards.
Keith custodian Craig Reid showed his worth yet again, denying Sopel and Willie West.
He was left helpless though with 29 minutes played, slack defending allowing Marley Sweenie-Rowe to turn and smash home from six yards.
Broch increased the lead six minutes after half-time when Scott Barbour gave Reid no chance with an angled 15 yarder, capitalising on more poor defensive play.
The game was well and truly wrapped up with eight minutes remaining, Barbour whipping in a cross for Sean Butcher to slam home from 10 yards.
Keith manager Craig Ewen said: “We had some early breaks, looking not bad going forward, but unfortunately defensive errors killed us today.
“Right now we’re conceding bad goals and it’s just not good enough.
“That was a young defence today, but I need everybody to learn quickly. Fraserburgh fully deserved their win, doing so quite comfortably in the end.”
Huntly 2-1 Lossiemouth
Brodie Allen came off the bench to head home a winner as Huntly went nine games unbeaten against opponents Lossiemouth with a 2-1 win.
Huntly manager Colin Charlesworth admitted it was a hard-fought win for his side but a good boost ahead of their midweek Evening Express Aberdeenshire Cup semi-final against Buckie Thistle.
He said: “It’s a win and a confidence booster ahead of a semi-final.
“You have to fight for a win against a side like Lossie.
“They’re well organised and they caused us problems.
“We maybe got our shape wrong to start with.
“We got ourselves in front before losing a poor goal but we’ve reacted the right way in the second half.
“Brodie has been unfortunate due to the form of other forwards and I’m delighted he’s came on and got the winner with a well-taken goal. To be able to have options in your squad it’s a big positive.”
Huntly opened the scoring after fourteen minutes when an Alexander Jack cross was partially cleared by the opposing defence as far as Angus Grant who struck low inside the post for his 15th of the campaign.
Lossie drew level two minutes later when Brandon Hutcheon beat goalkeeper Calum Brodie to the ball at the edge of the area to head in his third of the season.
Huntly regained the lead on the hour mark when James Connelly sent in a great cross for Brodie Allen who netted his third of the season with a close range header.
Allen turned provider five minutes later setting Lewis Crosbie away from a back-heel who was denied by a timely block from Lewis McAndrew in the opposition box.
Brandon Hutcheon passed up a great opportunity in the 71st minutes with a free header wide of the post.
Lossie were still looking for an equaliser but Owen Paterson curled wide of the post minutes later while Ross Morrison fired just wide with 12 minutes remaining.
Lossiemouth assistant manager Ian Campbell said: “We’re gutted, I thought we deserved a draw with that second half performance.
“We fell asleep once and it had to be Brodie Allen who scored against his old team.
“I felt we kept Huntly to few chances and missed a good one ourselves to get a draw.
“After they scored the opening goal, we came back into the game and started to settle in and the equaliser gave us the confidence to get back into the game.”
Rothes 0-4 Clachnacuddin
Clachnacuddin moved up to fifth place in the table with a comfortable 4-0 victory over a struggling Rothes outfit.
Clach manager Conor Gethin said: “I wasn’t happy with the performance overall, it was very slow and lacklustre and it had no intensity, not the principles we are looking for really.
“But on the other hand, it’s another three points and a clean sheet.
“Connor Bunce has now reached double figures for the season, I challenged him to get his numbers up and he was a bit of a thorn in the Rothes side.
“We are in a blessed position just now in that we’ve got loads of depth in our squad as this league is very unforgiving.”
The first real chance fell to Clach’s free-scoring forward Bunce but his eight yard header drifted wide of the target.
In the 11th minute Troy Cooper burst through but home keeper Sean McCarthy brilliantly blocked his 12-yard drive.
Clach opened the scoring on the quarter hour mark when a low cross from Cooper on the right flank picked out Bunce who clipped the ball past McCarthy from six yards.
Five minutes later it took a brilliant flying save from McCarthy to stop Ally Riddle from doubling the visitors’ advantage.
It was 2-0 in the 28th minute Josh Meekings’ header picked out Harry Nicolson and he fired the ball past the helpless McCarthy from six yards.
Clach made it 3-0 in the 40th minute when the Rothes defence again failed to pick up Meekings at a corner kick and this time the experienced defender took charge himself to stab the ball past McCarthy from close-range.
Former Nairn midfielder Ally Gillies, signed by Clach ahead of the game, forced McCarthy intro another brilliant tip-over as the visitors looked to press home their advantage.
Clach made it 4-0 in the 77th minute, substitute Jack Davidson, unmarked in the box, sweeping the ball home from eight yards.
Rothes boss Richard Hastings said: “We talked at half-time that as good a run as they have been on we didn’t force them to create things, the first three goals were gifts.
“We had a game-plan with certain roles for certain players but unfortunately those instructions weren’t carried out and as a result the consequences were costly for us and with those errors, we went 3-0 down.
“We did OK in the second half and it was a better performance but by then the game was over.”
Turriff United 0-1 Brechin City
League leaders Brechin City extended their unbeaten run to 11 matches following a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Turriff United at the Haughs.
City were made to fight all the way by a spirited and battling United side who will feel they deserved to take something from the match.
The deciding goal came City’s way in the 66th minute when central defender Brad McKay was on the spot to fire home from close-range following a goalmouth scramble.
City were reduced to ten men seven minutes from time when midfielder Seth Patrick picked up a second yellow card but the visitors held on to clinch a vital three points.
Brechin boss Patrick Cregg said: “From a spectator point of view I thought that it was a really good game and Turriff were certainly up for it.
“I thought we were excellent.
“In the first half I felt that it was as good as we’ve played in terms of our rotation and movement.
“We said to the players at half-time that the goal would come if we kept our mentality.
“We’ve got a winning culture and it’s all a matter of keeping that mentality going.
“We’re creating chances which is the most important thing and we’re winning games of football.
“That’s ten wins in a row and it’s really difficult to win games of football, particularly when you’re playing teams at the same level so really delighted with that.
“We were given a really hard game today by a team who are definitely going to be taking points from other sides so I’m really, really pleased to come away with three points.”
Turriff boss Warren Cummings said: “In terms of he application and work-rates and character traits we certainly went toe to toe with a team I consider to be the best in the league.
“I was really chuffed with the players.
“We can be better on the ball, we know that and we had to be patient in terms of our possession because we knew that Brechin would have more of the ball.
“Although we can never be happy losing a football match, Brechin definitely knew that they were in a match and I certainly couldn’t ask for anything more from my players.”
Wick Academy 1-2 Formartine United
Formartine United came from behind to beat Wick Academy 2-1 at Harmsworth Park and make it seven Breedon Highland League games unbeaten.
The Scorries struck shortly before half-time in controversial circumstances. Kyle Henderson’s nudge in the back sent Stuart Smith to ground as the pair chased a ball in behind.
However, referee Stuart Randall didn’t award a foul with Henderson crossing for Gordon MacNab to head home.
The equaliser arrived in the 70th minute as Aidan Combe headed Tyler Mykyta’s left-wing free-kick into the net.
Seven minutes later Mykyta controlled a cross-field pass from Aaron Norris and beat goalkeeper Graeme Williamson with a low finish.
Formartine are unbeaten in the league since August 17 and have amassed 17 points from their last seven outings.
Boss Stuart Anderson said: “The points total over the last seven games has been good and we just need to try to keep building on it.
“It was a really good performance, Wick is always a tough place to go so we were delighted to get the three points.
“It was good character from the lads to come from behind.”
Wick are winless in their last five matches and manager Gary Manson said: “For our goal nine times out of 10 it would be given as a foul. If it was the other way I would have been screaming for it.
“I think a draw would have been a fair result over the piece. But our Achilles heel is defending balls into the box and that hurt us again, we’re losing really poor goals.
“Every week we go over it and work on it at training, but we’re still conceding poor goals from balls into our box.
“In our last three games we’ve scored six goals and we’ve got nothing to show for it which is frustrating.”
Strathspey Thistle 1-4 Banks o’ Dee
Banks o’ Dee co-manager Josh Winton hopes they can keep the pressure on the sides above them after winning 4-1 against Strathspey Thistle at Seafield Park.
The Aberdeen side are fourth in the table and trailing third-placed Inverurie Locos on goal difference with Brora Rangers four points ahead in second and leaders Brechin City a further seven points in front.
Winton said: “We need to try to keep winning, we just take it game by game and we’ll try to stay as close to the sides above us as we can.
“We started well and got an early goal but then we lost quite a sloppy goal from our point of view.
“Over the piece I didn’t feel Strathspey caused us too many problems and in the end we were well worth the three points.”
Andy Hunter’s close range finish gave Dee an early lead, but Kieran Duffty netted from a Caelan Mutch cross to level things up.
Iain Vigurs’ drive from 12 yards put the visitors ahead again after half an hour and Michael Philipson’s strike from the edge of the box made it 3-1.
In the closing stages Lachie MacLeod completed the scoring with his looping header deemed to have crossed the line before it was cleared.
Strathspey played midfielder Sam Cairns as a trialist and were missing James McShane, Paul Brindle, Josh Race, Cameron Lisle, Jordan Laidlaw, Kieran Chalmers, Dylan Lawrence, Steven Macdonald and Alan Kerr.
Manager Ryan Esson said: “I thought we were really competitive in the game and I’m disappointed to lose four goals.
“We need to accept this is a process and you will give away chances, but some of the goals we’re conceding are still avoidable.
“Decisions aren’t going our way either. I’ve had 11 games in charge and we haven’t had a big decision or a debatable decision go our way.
“Is that luck or is it because it’s an easy option to give against Strathspey because we’re getting beat every week? I don’t know.”
- Read the reaction from Brora Rangers’ victory against Buckie Thistle here.
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