Brechin City moved to within three points of leaders Fraserburgh following a comfortable 4-0 victory over Deveronvale at Glebe Park.
Fraserburgh’s match against Brora Rangers fell victim to the wintry weather and Brechin seized their chance to close the gap.
City manager Andy Kirk was delighted with the three points and praised the efforts of his players.
“I thought that we were in total control from start to finish,” he said.
“It wasn’t easy for the players today following a really tough game against Darvel in the Scottish Cup on Tuesday night with all the emotions that went along with it and all the energy that was used up in that game.
“All credit to the players for putting that disappointment behind them and playing the game the right way.
“I thought some of our play was really good at times, although we maybe lacked that bit of urgency in certain spells of the match.
“But it was another four goals, a clean sheet, their keeper’s made a couple of good saves and we’ve been a bit wasteful at times in the final third so it’s another good performance and another victory.”
Good morning City fans!
Yesterday's 4-0 win made it 7️⃣ straight wins in the league, scoring 2️⃣6️⃣ goals and keeping 5️⃣ clean sheets in the process. pic.twitter.com/SGaisruodm
— Brechin City FC (@BrechinCityFC) December 19, 2021
Max Kucheriavyi set his side on the road to victory after 24 minutes when he weaved his way into the penalty area before unleashing a superb left-footed drive into the top corner of the net.
Murray MacKintosh made it 2-0 three minutes before the interval when he slotted the ball home from close-range after great work from Julian Wade had created the opening.
It was all City again after the break and a stunning Kucheriavyi free-kick in the 66th minute sealed the points with a Jack Milne tap-in with quarter of an hour remaining putting the gloss on an impressive home performance.
The Vale had rarely threatened over the course of the 90 minutes with home keeper Jack Wills having only one save of note to make in the match and assistant manager Kevin Stewart was philosophical following his side’s defeat.
90’ | Full-time and the points go to Brechin. Two goals in each half wrapped up the win for the hosts.
[4-0] | 🔴⚪️ | #vale pic.twitter.com/FwJZqihSTW
— Deveronvale Football Club (@DeveronvaleFC) December 18, 2021
“We came here hoping to take something from the game,’ he said.
“We played quite deep and tried to defend and I was very disappointed with the manner of the goals we lost but to be honest we never looked as if we were going to take anything from the match.”
Meanwhile, Deveronvale defender Aaron Hamilton, 25, has signed a two-year extension.
Hamilton joined Vale in November 2020 from Forres Mechanics and can play at right back or in the centre of defence.
Manager Craig Stewart said: “Whilst he has had some injury setbacks which have limited his game time, he has shown by his application in training that he is now fully fit and ready to fight for a regular starting place in the team.”
