Cove Rangers ran the rule over young Dundee United defender Ross Graham in last night’s 3-0 friendly win over Fraserburgh at Balmoral Stadium.
Graham, who had a spell at Elgin City last season, played the full 90 minutes at centre-back as goals from Mitch Megginson, Connor Scully and Jamie Masson in the second period earned them victory.
Manager Paul Hartley was pleased with how Graham came through a tough challenge against Highland League opposition.
He said: “We’d just got him up last night from Dundee United to have a look at him. He was out with Dumbarton on Saturday.
“He did fine, he was solid enough. We’ll see where that takes us. It was a good workout for him against tough opposition. He stood up to the challenge.
“We’ve had an eye on him for a wee while, but couldn’t get him up to play. United have given us him for last night and possibly Saturday to have a look at the young kid.”
It was the visitors with the best early chances, with Owen Cairns forcing a low stop out of Stuart McKenzie and Lewis Duncan, cutting in from the left, fizzing a shot across the face of goal.
Masson and Leighton McIntosh both sent free-kicks high over the bar, with the two later combining for the former Dundee and Peterhead forward to turn a volley over.
A superb Cove move seven minutes into the second half was thwarted by Leask’s decisive intervention, as he stuck out a leg to take the ball from Megginson.
Megginson did crash Cove in front with 15 minutes to go, finding the net via the underside of the crossbar, and three minutes later they had a second after McIntosh’s cross was cleared into the path of Scully, whose sweet half-volley beat replacement stopper Edward Flinn.
The home side found a third with six minutes to go, with Masson at the back post to slide beyond Flinn.