Brechin City manager Andy Kirk felt his side were always in total control as they eked past a spirited Clach side 1-0.
Marc Scott’s goal handed Brechin the points at Grant Street Park and gave them their fourth league win on the bounce.
He said: “Three points is what we look for every week. We’ve tried to maintain a style of play and a standard we look for.
“We got that for the majority of the game. We had total control from start to finish and I’m really pleased with how the players handled themselves.
“We had some half-chances and some opportunities to shoot and we didn’t, which we need to improve on. When we have the opportunity to hit the target, (we need to) try and do so as many times as we can.
“I felt like we had control of the game but you’ve still got to win it. Real credit to the players from start to finish, the work-rate and attitude was fantastic and they got their rewards.”
Brechin were also handed a boost by results elsewhere, with leaders Fraserburgh dropping points in a 2-1 defeat to Rothes.
That means should the Glebe Park side win their game in hand against Turriff United next week, the gap at the top will be down to three points.
Kirk added: “It’s a positive for us. We can only take care of our own performance – every week we go out and do the right things to try win the game.
“We’ll see where that takes us come the end of the season.”
There was also praise for Kevin McHattie, who played his first 90 minutes of the season after joining Brechin in September.
“Huge credit to Kevin as he’s not played an awful lot of football. The plan was probably to give him 60-70 minutes but he felt good.
“The way the game was going we wanted to keep him on and see if he could get through it. He brings another level of quality to the team.”
The game was short on clear chances in poor conditions in the Highland capital. An early shot by David Cox was turned away by the impressive Clach stopper Martin MacKinnon, while Cox was later denied a shot at goal by Eachainn Miller’s block.
MacKinnon was required again to keep out substitute Cammie Ross but Clach fell behind on 65 minutes, as McHattie’s long-ball found Scott and he tucked the ball into the corner.
For Lilywhites boss Jordan MacDonald, it was another near-miss against one of the Highland League’s top sides.
He said: “We’re frustrated. Brechin didn’t do an awful lot and neither did we. There wasn’t many clear-cut chances – the goal was sloppy from us. It’s a long ball up the park and we need to deal with it.
“Every mistake we seem to make gets punished. When you’re playing one of the best teams in the league you can’t do that.
“We have given good accounts of ourselves against these teams but we’ve taken nothing. I felt we should have taken something on Saturday.
“The application we’re getting, the desire and commitment; people will say that should come with being a football but you’re playing one of the best teams in the league. If we take that into every other game, we’ll do alright.”
