Scott Barbour was proud of Fraserburgh’s display in defeat to Arbroath in the third round of the Scottish Cup at Bellslea.
The Broch were beaten 2-0 with Bobby Linn getting both goals for their Championship opponents.
Striker Barbour hit the woodwork early on and had a goal ruled out for offside, but having beaten Stranraer in round two the Buchan side couldn’t take another SPFL scalp.
The Breedon Highland League player of the year said: “It’s a wee bit of what could have been. I really wish we could have shot down the hill with the wind in the second half.
“It wasn’t to be, in the first half hitting the post and having a goal called offside was frustrating.
“But the boys can hold their heads up high, I think from the word go Arbroath knew they were in a game.
“They were quite direct like ourselves and we got stuck in from the off, it wasn’t to be unfortunately which is pretty gutting.
“We’re proud of how we’ve done, we beat Stranraer in the previous round and that was the first time in nine years we’d beaten a team from a higher level.”
Barbour committed for future
Barbour will have more Scottish Cup campaigns to look forward to in years to come after penning a contract extension until the summer of 2028 on Friday.
Team-mates Willie West, Paul Young, Ryan Cowie and Zane Laird also signed new deals until the summer of 2025.
Barbour added: “I’m delighted with that, there wasn’t really a discussion. I just said the same deal as last time, when I came back from Formartine (in 2018).
“I’ll be here for the rest of my playing career now. I went away for a few years but I’ve come back and I don’t want to play anywhere else.
“It was good to get Willie, Paul, Ryan and Zane signed up as well, it’s good commitment from everyone.
“Whether I’ll still be playing in five years I don’t know, I might end up being a ball boy or something by then.”
Linn the difference
Having lost the toss Fraserburgh were made to play down the Bellslea slope with the wind at their backs in the first period.
They started well with Sean Butcher firing wide from a Barbour cross.
In the eighth minute West’s ball down the left channel wasn’t dealt with by Ricky Little and Thomas O’Brien, which let Barbour in.
Although his shot from a tight angle beat goalkeeper Derek Gaston, Little recovered to slide in and send the ball against the right post before the Red Litchies cleared Lewis Davidson’s follow-up effort.
Barbour had an angled drive turned over by Gaston before the visitors hit Fraserburgh with a 17th minute sucker-punch.
Scott Allan played Linn through on goal and he calmly slotted low past goalkeeper Joe Barbour with referee Calum Scott – who frustrated the home side and supporters throughout with some strange decisions – and assistant Douglas Ross dismissing vociferous Broch appeals for offside.
On 26 minutes Sargent Ryan blocked Little’s attempted clearance and Barbour finished, but was flagged offside by assistant Elliott Husband-Powton.
Early in the second period Allan sent Linn through again, but this time his effort was wayward.
Playing into the strengthening wind it was harder for Fraserburgh to create chances, but their work-rate and determination kept them in the tie until the closing stages.
Their best chance of equalising came on 87 minutes when sub Connor Wood outmuscled Little before shooting straight at Gaston from 12 yards.
Two minutes later with Broch bodies committed forward Linn broke away on the right and slotted home the second to secure Arbroath’s place in Monday’s fourth round draw.
Cowie’s pride
Fraserburgh manager Mark Cowie said: “I’m proud of the guys’ effort. The 2-0 scoreline is probably what Arbroath deserved, I can’t take that away from them.
“Losing the coin toss and playing with the wind in the first half I think we needed to score.
“We had a couple of chances and we probably needed one of them to go in to give us something to fight for in the second half.
“But we stuck to our task and caused problems like I thought we would.
“I would have liked to have caused more, at times we were a bit rash and maybe went gung-ho rather than being more composed.”
On the first goal, Cowie added: “The guys are adamant he’s offside but you need to play the whistle.
“These things happen, I thought a lot of the 50-50s went their way, but they’re clever and know how to get fouls. That’s something we’ll learn from.”
Arbroath boss Dick Campbell said: “It was always going to be a tough game, I thought Fraserburgh were very good.
“In the cold light of the day we had more chances and Bobby took his two chances well.
“I’m delighted to be in the next round of the Scottish Cup.”
