A late, late Paul Campbell brace gave Fraserburgh a hard-earned Breedon Highland League victory over Rothes – though few neutrals in the Bellslea crowd would have begrudged the visitors a point for their disciplined display.
Having watched Campbell score a 90th-minute penalty, before slotting a quickfire second, Broch boss Mark Cowie said: “I’m just delighted to win – Rothes always make us work hard for anything we get and, as I’ve said before, they are the most difficult team to beat as they set themselves up really well.
“We put them under constant pressure in the second half and, if they had got out of here with anything at all, it would have been an unbelievable result for them.
“But we don’t stop, and we just needed that break, and it came from a kid, Zane Laird, who came on, his speed in the box was unbelievable at the penalty, and Paul Campbell was ruthless from the penalty spot.”
In the seventh minute, Rothes almost opened the scoring when Aidan Wilson’s 12-yard angled shot hit the post and bounced clear.
In the 17th minute, the visitors’ keeper, Sean McCarthy, came to the rescue when he dived to block a close-range Sean Butcher effort with his legs.
With an hour gone, the Broch brought on talismanic striker Scott Barbour in an effort to break down that superbly-organised Rothes defence.
Willie West almost broke the deadlock when his brilliant 25-yard rising drive clattered the crossbar with McCarthy beaten.
In the 90th minute, Fraserburgh were awarded a penalty when Rothes skipper Bruce Milne was adjudged by referee Joel Kennedy to have upended substitute Laird, and Campbell sent McCarthy the wrong way.
A minute later, Campbell grabbed his own and Fraserburgh’s second goal with a clinical close-range finish.
With a right footed shot from 8 yards into the bottom left corner of the net after Zane Laird passed the ball to him to make it 2-0 Broch (90 +2) #theBroch pic.twitter.com/JPHU5I2jEw
— Fraserburgh FC (@FraserburghFC) October 29, 2022
Rothes manager Ross Jack though his team merited a draw, and said: “That late second goal coming so soon after the first killed us.
“Without a doubt I feel we were worth a draw. We were definitely the better team in the first half, but the Broch do what they do well and put us under extreme pressure in the second half – though it was never a penalty, not in a million years. It was a shocking decision.
“I thought the boys were magnificent, they played extremely well and definitely deserved more out of the game.”
Buckie come through Forres clash with battling 2-0 win
Buckie Thistle remain three points behind leaders Brechin City after a battling 2-0 win over Forres Mechanics at Victoria Park.
Goals in each half from Jack Murray and Max Barry earned the home side all three points, with centre-half Murray grabbing an impressive fifth goal in five league games.
However, Buckie manager Graeme Stewart was disappointed in his team’s start to the game, and said: “They didn’t follow the game plan that we wanted them to. We wanted the game played in their half and it was important we played it long as the pitch wasn’t great today.
“We don’t want to play that way, we want to play football, get our good players on the ball and keep the game in their half.”
“Second half we improved and I don’t think our goalkeeper had anything to do.
“Fair play to Forres, though, they’re a good team and I thought they were excellent in the first 20 minutes.”
Forres began the better side and Ben Barron fired a shot just wide, before a superb volley from Martin Groat from 20 yards went straight at Buckie keeper Balint Demus.
The home side took the lead in the 27th minute, with Murray getting on the end of a great delivery from Andy MacAskill to head in low at the back post.
Steven Macdonald not happy with yellow card
The visitors were appealing for a red card when Lewis Mackinnon brought down Barron as he broke clear, but referee Baxter decided a yellow was enough and indicated Murray was covering Forres danger-man Barron’s run.
Marcus Goodall blasted a low effort straight at Stuart Knight as Buckie began the second half brighter.
And the home side made it two in the 59th minute – MacAskill floating a superb cross from the left to the back post to Barry, who took a touch and fired the ball into the bottom left corner from 10 yards.
Cans boss Steven Macdonald was not happy with the decision to only show Mackinnon a yellow card, having been pleased with Forres’ early showing.
He said: “I thought we did really well first half in particular, but the disappointing thing was losing a goal at a set-piece. I didn’t think Buckie had done much up to that point.
“It’s something we have to learn from, you can’t gift easy goals to teams like that. We spoke about it last week, too.”
On the Mackinnon yellow card, he added: “I think it’s a terrible decision by the referee. He said to me that number six (Murray) was going to get across, but he must be an Olympic sprinter if he was going to cover that. These are the decisions that need to go your way if you’re going to get something here.”
“To be fair to Buckie, they were the better side in the second half and had two or three more good chances.”
“I’m really pleased with how we battled on, Graham Fraser got a knock and struggled second half, while Martin Groat has an ankle problem that he probably shouldn’t be playing with, but that just shows the spirit of him.”
Late Nairn leveller leaves Keith boss Craig Ewen perplexed
Nairn County, with 43-year-old Ross Tokely making his debut, grabbed a contentious stoppage time equaliser to draw 1-1 with Keith.
At the end of a dour tussle at Kynoch Park, the Maroons felt they should have been awarded a free-kick for a foul on Matty Tough. But, with play continuing, Angus Dey’s deflected shot landed in the back of the net to cancel out Stewart Hutcheon’s first-half penalty.
Keith boss Craig Ewen, who was red carded in the aftermath, said: “It was very disappointing to be honest, although in the first half we didn’t turn up – not that Nairn were much better.
“We won the penalty just before half-time off a good counter attack.
“In the second half we played with much more energy, and I don’t think they had a direct shot on goal.
“I got a red card at the end, but I felt that the officials made a mistake. We should have had a free-kick two minutes into stoppage time, but, for whatever reason, and unknown to everybody else in the ground, the referee hasn’t given it and they’ve been able to play on and score with a massive deflection.
90+2' GUSSY DEY!
The pressure pays off and Angus Dey's shot from range takes a fortunate deflection and beats the keeper.
🔴 1-1 🟡 pic.twitter.com/IPjkFmCZnu
— Nairn County FC (@NairnCounty) October 29, 2022
“I felt we had done enough to hang on for the win and a clean sheet, but it was taken away from us at the end.”
Nairn boss Steven Mackay said: “I thought the draw was the least we deserved the way we played – we dominated large parts of the first half.
“Neither goalie was really tested to be honest.
“I thought that Ross Tokely was exceptional on his debut and I would also single out young Fraser Dingwall.”
Both sides suffered early blows – Nairn losing Scott Davidson, who limped off in the 10th minute, before Keith’s co-captain Ryan Robertson suffered a facial injury which saw him replaced.
The only goal of an otherwise uneventful first half came a minute from the break when Kieran Mooney was toppled inside the penalty area following a surging run, and Hutcheon made no mistake from the spot.
Nairn were forced to continue with 10 men in the 82nd minute, having used up their three substitutes when Callum Howarth went off injured, however, Dey’s strike earned them the draw.
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