Ray McKinnon watched Brechin City go to the top of the Breedon Highland League and hailed the players’ response after it looked like their title challenge was faltering.
The Hedgemen beat fellow challengers Brora Rangers 2-0 at Dudgeon Park courtesy of Ewan Loudon’s first half brace to move three points ahead of the Cattachs with six matches remaining.
McKinnon was brought in as interim Brechin manager on March 3 after four draws in five matches had seen them slip three points behind Brora.
But since McKinnon’s appointment City have won three out of three and are now in pole position in the championship chase.
He said: “The next six games are going to be really competitive for ourselves and Brora.
“I’m sure there will be twists and turns between now and the end of the season, but we’ve given ourselves a chance which we can hopefully maintain.
“The response from the players has been really good. They’re a good bunch of lads, it’s just been a case of reminding them there was a lot to play for and they’ve responded.
“Three wins is good, but we’re not getting carried away and we’ll take it one game at a time.”
Reflecting on Brechin’s performance against Brora, McKinnon added: “I thought in the first half we were excellent. We knew Brora would come at us in the second half, but we put in a pretty polished performance.
“We didn’t have to chase the game in the second half and we’re delighted with the three points. Brora score a lot of goals so to keep a clean sheet was really good.”
Quick one-two
The opening goal arrived in freakish fashion in the 16th minute. Cillian Sheridan gathered a Lewis Martin throw-in from the right and played a pass in behind which Brora captain Michael Finnis got to first, but his attempted clearance hit Loudon and flew beyond goalkeeper Cammy Mackay into the net.
Barely a minute later Brechin and Loudon struck again. Fraser MacLeod’s pass found Loudon on the left flank and he cut inside before lashing a low right-footed shot into the bottom right corner from the edge of the box.
Understandably Brora were a bit flat after being hit by that quickfire double, but they did have opportunities in the first half.
After half an hour Craig MacKenzie miscued a shot from 12 yards into the hands of goalkeeper Lenny Wilson.
Four minutes later Connor Bunce’s header from Tony Dingwall’s free-kick on the right was parried by Wilson and Brechin captain Euan Spark – featuring for the first time since January 17 after dislocating a shoulder – blocked Bunce’s follow-up attempt at close quarters.
Cattachs have chances to hit back
In the second half Brechin were content to sit on their lead and the key question was could Brora mount a comeback?
They created the chances to get back into the contest, but couldn’t convert them.
On 47 minutes Shane Sutherland headed narrowly wide after Max Ewan crossed from the right.
Six minutes later another Ewan delivery from the right appeared to strike the outstretched arm of Mitchell Taylor, but referee Harry Bruce and assistant Ivan Leslie dismissed the vociferous penalty appeals from the Cattachs.
As play continued Dingwall poked the loose ball goalwards from six yards, but it hit the right post.
Sub Matthew Wright was next to have an opening as he volleyed straight at Wilson from 12 yards following a Bunce knockdown. Dingwall had the last decent effort, but his 84th minute lob from an acute angle was headed off the line by Brad McKay.
Key moments went against Brora
It’s back-to-back defeats for Brora for the first time this season and they have been unable to beat Brechin in eight league meetings since 2021.
Manager Steven Mackay said: “A crazy 60 or 90 seconds ultimately decided the game. The first goal we lose is a goal you see once in a 100,000 attempts or something like that.
“But our response to it was really poor. Yes it was a setback, but you’re always going to have moments in games like this where you’re under pressure and you have to deal with certain situations.
“We let it impact us and before you know it it’s 2-0. The way Brechin defend, we were going to have to do something extraordinary in the second half to turn it around.
“We created some chances, but it was a day where things didn’t really go our way.
“We hit the post and I think there’s a penalty in there, Mitch Taylor tried to block it and I’m sure it’s hit his arm, but the linesman is adamant it hit his shoulder so it will be interesting to see it.
“The impact (of the result) is huge – it was never going to define who wins the league – but it goes a long way towards deciding it and it’s advantage to Brechin.
“We had the advantage a few weeks ago and we were three points clear, we’ve got six games left and it’s up to us to try to win our games and see what happens.”
Turriff United 2-1 Clachnacuddin
A very youthful Turriff United netted a last-gasp winner to deflate high-flying Clachnacuddin at The Haughs.
Turra boss Warren Cummings said: “We won with a team whose average age was 19 and that’s because we had a dozen players ruled out.
“To show the appetite, workrate and maturity to play like we did was hugely satisfying.
“My players had to perform as a unit as they weren’t going to have success without that.
“Their competitive nature was fantastic against a team with huge Highland League experience and some player who have played at a higher level. I’m thankful for what the players gave us.
“Reece McKeown came off the bench and took his goal well, we then left Josh Meekings unmarked right at the end but we went back to the other end and got the winner.
“If the game had finished level I’d have said the same to the players in the dressing room.
“We didn’t get what we deserved at Brechin (a 1-0 loss) in terms of what we put in and factoring in the refereeing. This week it was ourselves who scored the winner, football’s great.
“Our goalkeeper Cameron Reid, who is 17, was a breath of fresh air.
“He still has things to work on but the players were all great.
“It was a really good team effort. We have to keep the standards going. Workrate and willingness to run only gets you so far, you need to add on quality to win matches.”
After a goalless first half the opener came midway through the second half when Reece McKeown, fresh off the bench, composed himself to fire into the corner from a cleared ball out from central defence.
The Lilywhites piled on the pressure and eventually equalised in the 90th minute when former Caley Thistle defender Josh Meekings headed home a corner from close range.
But Turriff refused to accept a draw with left back Kieran Yeats netting following Callan Gray’s corner on the left.
Clach boss Conor Gethins said: “I’m hugely disappointed about the second goal conceded.
“There was a gap, nobody was within ten yards of their scorer.
“Fair play to Turriff they worked really hard with a young energetic team who are really enthusiastic.
“Sometimes you know when your day’s not there. Their young goalkeeper was excellent, he made a great save at one up from Andy MacRae and even got a hand to one that hit the post.
“We’ve come a long way. Turriff celebrated as if they’d won something but it’s good for our players to see that because that was us last season. A team that people were happy to beat.
“That’s the reaction of a team beating us towards the end of the season. I’ll take the positives rather than the negatives.”
Deveronvale 1-2 Formartine United
Formartine United got back to winning ways after the disappointment of losing the Aberdeenshire Shield final with 2-1 win over Deveronvale.
Julian Wade grabbed the opener for United with a close range finish after 43 minutes but Vale were unhappy that play was allowed to continue by referee Filippo Mazzoni after Tobias Davies-Browne looked to have suffered a head knock in the lead up to the goal.
Glen Murison doubled Formartine’s advantage 90 seconds later as a ball to the back post was hooked across goal by Michael Dangana for the midfielder to net from six yards.
The visitors missed a couple of good chances to increase their lead and after they hit the post Vale went right up the park to pull one back with substitute Cammy Angus firing high beyond Ewen Macdonald with 13 minutes remaining.
Formartine manager Stuart Anderson said: “We had one cleared off the line, another hit the post and we missed a one-on-one opportunity with their keeper. When you don’t take these chances the game is always alive and that’s what happened as Vale got a goal and for the last 10 minutes they had a go at us.
“That being said I have to give my boys credit because they were superb when that came with Glen Murison outstanding at the back when he had to drop back when Rhys Thomas came off injured.”
Deveronvale assistant Grant Noble was left baffled with the decision not to stop play as they lost the opener.
He said: “We were well in the game but disappointed with the first goal being given as I thought the rules were to stop play for a head knock right away.
“When I asked why play was not stopped the explanation given by the referee was not what I thought and to be honest there were another couple of questionable decisions throughout the game.
“We have to defend far better for the second goal as we have lost a few goals like that this season but once we got the goal from a good Cammy Angus finish I thought we would push on but we couldn’t get a chance to fall for us.
“There were positives to take from the game and we now move onto Buckie on Wednesday night.”
Forres Mechanics 1-1 Buckie Thistle
A late header from in-form Elgin City loanee Fin Allen gave Buckie Thistle a share of the spoils against Forres at Mosset Park.
Matt Jamieson gave Forres a first half lead with a superb long-range strike, but Allen’s sixth goal in seven games meant it ended all square.
Jags boss Lewis Mackinnon was pleased to keep their unbeaten run going.
He said: “It might sound crazy being 1-0 down at half time, but we were happy with the first half and felt we were in control of the game.
“We asked for the same again at the break, but that didn’t happen and we huffed and puffed in what became a scrappy second half.
“Credit to Lyall (Keir) for the bit of quality to hang the ball up for Fin (Allen) to score, but then we missed a good chance to get a second, left ourselves open at the other end and Forres had chances to win it.
“We have to take positives from the game, we hauled ourselves back into it and kept our unbeaten run going.”
Josh Peters missed a great chance to open the scoring on 27 minutes after a turgid opening spell, firing wide at the near post from Marcus Goodall’s low cross.
Jamieson opened the scoring on 33 minutes, reacting well when the ball broke loose to crash a great strike high beyond Mark Ridgers from 25 yards.
Darryl McHardy sent a lopping header off the face of the crossbar from Andy MacAskill’s corner from the right as half time approached.
Cameron Farquhar made a great block at the far post from Peters’ blasted effort to keep his side level just before the hour mark.
Buckie levelled six minutes from time, Keir doing superbly well to lift a cross to the far post and Allen climbed highest to power the ball home.
The home side missed a golden opportunity to win it late on but former Jag Kyle Macleod miscued with the goal at his mercy.
Forres manager Steven Macdonald said: “The most pleasing thing is the way we went about it today after hitting the self-destruct button against Huntly on Wednesday night.
“It was disappointing to lose a goal so late, but we were down to the bare bones by then and had to put a left-footer on at right back.
“We had chances to win it late on, but that’s four points out of six against the league champions and you can’t argue with that.”
Fraserburgh 2-0 Nairn County
Fraserburgh ground out a hard-fought 2-0 win over a spirited Nairn County at Bellslea Park.
The home side scored in either half through Scott Barbour and Fraser Mackie, but Nairn created enough chances that on another day would have seen them leave with at least one point.
Nairn interim manager Brian MacLeod couldn’t believe his side didn’t take anything from the game.
He said “I can’t remember coming here as a player or coach and creating as many chances as we did today. I counted five or six great chances in the second half alone, we hit the woodwork twice, had one cleared off the line and another chalked off for a tight offside call.
“In the first half we defended quite well, but didn’t threaten enough.
“We asked them at half time to show a bit more belief and in the second half I was really pleased with the response, but we just weren’t clinical enough in front of goal and Fraserburgh took their chances when they came along.”
The home side came into the match on the back of their thrilling Aberdeenshire Shield victory over Formartine United in midweek.
Scott Barbour, one of the heroes of that match, had two good efforts at the Nairn goal before he eventually found the breakthrough on 37 minutes, sliding the ball past Dylan MacLean after Sean Butcher flicked the ball on.
Whilst the Broch largely controlled the first half, Nairn came out with renewed vigour after the break.
Ben Barron saw an effort ruled out for offside and then forced home goalkeeper Joe Barbour into a good save before putting the rebound wide. Just after the hour Barron set up Callum MacLean who crashed a shot off the crossbar.
As so often happens when chances go abegging it was the Broch who doubled their lead on 70 minutes with Fraser Mackie on the end of a great move firing the ball home after Barbour and Butcher had combined to set him up.
The visitors didn’t buckle though, and Calum Mackay saw an effort cleared off the line.
Right at the death a Mackay corner hit the crossbar, and Fraser Dingwall saw his shot saved on the line.
Fraserburgh assistant manager James Duthie was relieved to pick up all three points.
He said: “We rode our luck at times in the second half, were a bit careless and sloppy after controlling the first half and scoring a good goal.
“We weathered the storm and scored a second after a great counter-attack, thereafter we managed the game well, the substitutions we made gave us a bit of control back.
“Today was all about getting the three points after a hard final on Wednesday night.
“We’ve had a really hectic schedule recently which we’ve come through quite well and have another tough game this midweek against Turriff to look forward to.”
Huntly 7-0 Keith
Huntly recorded their biggest win over rivals Keith since the 1949-50 season with a 7-0 victory at Christie Park.
Manager Colin Charlesworth was delighted with the showing from his side, who have scored 12 goals in their last two games.
He said: “Last week at Lossiemouth we didn’t hit the standards we set but we’ve had to up our levels and followed on from Wednesday night at Forres.
“We’re starting well but were guilty of taking the foot off the gas a bit.
“We were 1-0 up and Keith came into the game. The red card changes the game but you’ve still got to beat what’s in front of you and although we scored seven it should’ve been more.”
With three substitutes coming off the bench to score, Charlesworth highlighted the strength in his squad.
He added: “Our bench and squad were strong, I know we’ve had a lot of postponements but it’s allowed us time to get some players fit and fresh and we’re now coming into a busy schedule so to be able to bring on players of quality I’m delighted to get everyone involved.”
It took the hosts only two minutes to break the deadlock. A Callum Murray shot came back off the bar and spun off keeper Craig Reid before falling nicely for Sam Robertson to tap in.
Keith went down to ten men after 25 minutes when Ryan Robertson was shown a straight red after a rash challenge on Owen Morris.
The Black and Golds doubled their advantage in the 36th minute. Murray played the ball into the visiting goalmouth and the ball was spilled by Reid before Owen Morris took advantage by tapping into the empty net.
Reid injured his shoulder diving for the ball and was replaced in goal by Scott Barron.
Only 21 seconds after the interval, Ryan Sewell’s through ball released Owen Morris who finished low for his fourth of the season.
The hosts extended their lead on 57 minutes when an Alexander Thoirs cross was headed back by Sewell for Lewis Crosbie to volley home.
Just over a minute later, Thoirs got forward on the right and his shot towards the far post took a deflection to find the net.
In the 79th minute an Adam Morris pass was knocked down by James Connelly for Brodie Allen to net with a low shot. Allen would add a second with four minutes remaining when the visiting defence failed to clear from a Crosbie cross allowing the player to strike for his sixth of the season.
With multiple injuries and a red card before the second half even started, Keith manager Craig Ewen admitted it was an afternoon to forget.
He said: “ I think everything that could’ve went wrong went wrong for us.
“It was a terrible start and it just got worse.
“We’ve had a red card and had to regroup at ten men and lose a bad second goal and lose our goalkeeper and with no goalkeeper on the bench it’s an uphill struggle after that.”
Inverurie Locos 5-0 Strathspey Thistle
Inverurie Locos hit five to sweep aside Strathspey Thistle at Harlaw Park, with boss Dean Donaldson applauding a strong showing from his team.
He said: “I’m really pleased, I thought it was a real professional performance.
“From start to finish we dominated the game, I was happy that our runners were making the difference off the ball, and they contributed to a couple goals.
“Josh Bolton took his goals well, but he also linked the play really well and pushed the team forward.”
Donaldson was also grateful for the opportunity to rest his key players.
He said: “Ideally, it’s what we were hoping to do. We’ve unsuccessfully tried a few times to rest players, so I’m happy we got some of the older legs off early in the second half and we’ll wrap them up in cotton wool before our final run of fixtures.”
Locos opened the scoring early with Blair Smith wriggling to the byline, setting up a simple tap-in for Bolton in the fourth minute.
Inverurie then hit the post through Cole Anderson and had a Paul Coutts header disallowed for a foul before Lloyd Robertson doubled the home side’s advantage.
The winger played a clever give and go with Callum Duncan, who chipped the ball over the Strathspey defence for Robertson to smash home from close range in the 25th minute.
The home side continued to assert their dominance and ended the contest before half time with two fine finishes.
Daniel Agnew collected the ball on the edge of the box and calmly slotted in for the third in the 38th minute, with Bolton grabbing his brace moments after, collecting a long ball and passing beyond Euan Storrier and into the bottom corner.
Despite a commanding first-half performance, the Harlaw Park faithful were treated to just one goal in the second period, with Anderson’s finish the pick of the bunch.
The midfielder collected the ball outside of the Strathspey box, before dancing through the Jags defence and firing home in the 76th minute.
A dejected Strathspey boss Ryan Esson was frustrated in the manner his team lost the game.
He said: “We conceded an early goal and then lost our way a little bit. We didn’t hold a structured defensive shape and when that happens, you’re in for a disaster.
“The second half was more positive, we proved to ourselves we could hold a shape but ultimately it was too late. We had our moments, but it wasn’t our day.”
Rothes 1-5 Banks o’ Dee
Bottom club Rothes led for 65 minutes before crumbling in the closing stages following an onslaught from Banks o’ Dee.
Banks o’ Dee co-manager Paul Lawson was happy with his side’s comeback, and said: “Rothes caused us a couple old problems in the first half although I don’t think Daniel Hoban had a save to make.
“But we had a chat at half-time and as the game wore on you could see that after the effort they put in during the first 45 minutes the Rothes legs started to tire.
“Credit to our boys for getting themselves back into the game and then we were ruthless towards the end.”
Striker Andy Hunter sent a header a couple of yards wide of the target in Dee’s first real chance in the 14th minute.
Rothes responded with a low Shaun Morrison cross comfortably gathered by Daniel Hoban in the visitors’ goal.
In the 25th minute Rothes keeper Shaun McCarthy brilliantly blocked a Mark Gilmour drive when a goal seemed certain.
Two minutes later Gilmour fired narrowly past from just outside the box as Dee pressed for the opener.
But it was Rothes who made the breakthrough when Shane Harkness’s pin-point cross was headed home by Shaun Morrison in the 33rd minute.
A minute later, at the other end, Rothes defender Owen Alexander somehow got back to clear the ball off the line.
Early in the second half Kacper Lewecki forced a good diving save out of McCarthy as Dee went in search of an equaliser.
The leveller arrived in the 65th minute when Iain Vigurs beat McCarthy with a low drive.
Dee took the lead in the 71st minute with a simple back-post tap-in by substitute Hamish MacLeod.
Five minutes later it was 3-1 when Owen Alexander turned the ball into his own net in attempting to clear his lines after a brilliant McCarthy save.
With three minutes to go substitute Liam Duell added another, the far side assistant flagging to say the ball had crossed the line before it was cleared.
With the last kick of the ball Hamish MacLeod tapped the ball home from a couple of yards.
Rothes boss Ronnie Sharp said: “We just can’t get the players fit enough. Every game is the same, for 60-65 minutes we are fine but again we ran out of steam.
“That’s the responsibility of the players themselves, you’ve got to keep yourself fit, you can’t get away with training two nights a week in this league. The players need to work by themselves to increase their levels of fitness.”
Wick Academy 4-1 Lossiemouth
A hat-trick from Kyle Henderson propelled Wick Academy to a 4-1 victory against Lossiemouth in what was goalkeeper James More’s last match for the Scorries.
The 36-year-old made his debut for the Caithness club in April 2005 and has been with Wick for most of the two decades since.
In recent years More has also been Academy’s goalkeeping coach and he’ll be continuing in that role going forward, but the win against Lossie at Harmsworth Park was his final appearance between the posts.
Wick boss Gary Manson said: “I think James has just reached a stage where he thinks it’s time to pass on the baton to someone else in terms of playing.
“He’ll continue to coach and he also does a lot of other things behind the scenes.
“James has been a great servant to the club over many years. It’s good that he’s still going to be part of the club going forward, James is a really good guy and he’s someone who if you give him a job you know he’ll do it right.”
Match action
Midway through the first half Henderson hooked home Wick’s opener on the rebound after Stuart Knight had saved his initial effort and George Ewing swept home Marc Coghill’s cross from the right on 36 minutes to double the lead.
A minute into the second half Henderson freed Marc MacGregor on the left who returned the favour and teed up Henderson to net from inside the box.
Lossie then lost Oli Hodgson when he was shown a second yellow and a red card by referee Scott Donohoe for a trip on David Allan.
Just shy of the hour mark Henderson fired into the top corner from the edge of the box to make it two hat-tricks in two games against Lossie this term, but the Coasters grabbed a consolation courtesy of Owen Loveland’s 25-yard strike.
Wick are unbeaten in four matches and Manson added: “It was a comprehensive win and a pleasing result. We’re in a good place at the moment.”
Lossiemouth boss Steve Porter said: “I thought we started well, we got into Wick’s box and got into good positions but didn’t capitalise.
“But it was a poor defensive performance and a bad day at the office.”
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