A second half double from substitute Max Ewan helped Brora Rangers claim three points against a dogged Lossiemouth at Grant Park.
A poor first half saw the visitors edge ahead through Dale Gillespie’s goal straight from a corner.
The 64th minute introduction of Jordan Macrae and Ewan gave the Cattachs more attacking impetus, and the winger’s quick-fire double strike sealed the win.
Brora assistant manager Josh Meekings said: “In the first half we moved the ball too slowly and took too many touches.
“Lossie are a fit side and defended the box well, so credit to them for that.
“In the second half we had more runners in behind and played more positively, and when we can bring on players of the quality of Jordan (Macrae) and Max (Ewan), they were able to take advantage of Lossiemouth getting tired after working so hard first half.
“We have a good squad of players and everyone is itching to play, so it can be difficult to pick a starting XI at times.
“We need a big squad as it creates the competition required to keep us challenging at the top of the table.”
Clean sheet for Logan this afternoon! pic.twitter.com/xNSh19jOHE
— Brora Rangers (@brorarangers) February 18, 2023
The first effort of note came in the 27th minute, Cammy Farquhar tipping the ball onto the post from Gregor Macdonald’s 25-yard free kick.
Farquhar then made a superb point-blank stop from Tony Dingwall on 41 minutes, only for Gillespie’s ball in from the resulting corner to swing over the keeper and into the net for the opener.
Right before half time, Brora manager Stuart Golabek was sent off by referee Kevin Buchanan for dissent.
Jordan Macrae and Max Ewan came off the bench and Ewan made it two on 77 minutes, slotting coolly into the far corner from ten yards after forceful play from Gillespie.
Two minutes later Ewan beat two men, cut inside and saw his shot deflected beyond Farquhar by Lewis McAndrew.
Fraser Dunoon from BRFC TV spoke to Max Ewan following today’s 3-0 win at Lossiemouth. pic.twitter.com/r6170JHm5Q
— Brora Rangers (@brorarangers) February 18, 2023
Lossiemouth boss Ian Campbell was frustrated to lose a soft goal in an otherwise good first half display.
He said: “It was disappointing to lose a goal like that after a solid first half, Cammy (Farquhar) is gutted because he had made a couple of great saves to keep it level up until then.
“We usually fancy ourselves to have a good go second half, but it was a bit flat and we didn’t seem to have that spark in the final third.”
Turriff United 0-1 Buckie Thistle
A hard working Buckie Thistle maintained their two point top of the table advantage over Brechin City with a narrow win over an energetic and enthusiastic Turriff United thanks to a fine goal from Max Barry with 16 minutes remaining.
Turra boss Dean Donaldson had asked his players to provide a vast improvement from their defeat at Deveronvale last time out and he got that response from his team who never gave a Buckie team minus the unavailable Andy MacAskill any time to settle on the ball.
However it was the visitors who were victorious and Graeme Stewart was delighted to get the win saying he knew his player’s would show no hangover from their midweek cup final defeat to Fraserburgh.
He said: “It was a game we had to win whether we gave a good performance or not but I thought we were excellent and had we not won we would have effectively been out of the title race.
“Turriff were outstanding and gave us one of the hardest games we have had all season and fair play to Dean Donaldson and Jamie Lennox for the way they set their team up.
“They showed good ability and have good young players but I think we just deserved to win as we hit the post and scored a really good goal from Max Barry with a quality finish.
“There was not a lot between the teams and they are improving and if they keep playing like that they will be beating top six teams.
“We have to keep on chalking up the wins starting with Clach next week and see where we are at come the last few games of the season.”
Turriff manager Dean Donaldson was left to bemoan one piece of poor defending following a fine performance from his team.
He said: “As a team we played as well as we have played which pleased me but I am absolutely gutted with the goal we lost as it was so soft and out of nothing.
“Until we sort that mentality out of losing poor goals we are not going to be winning games.
“We made a contest of the game as Buckie are a top side who are aggressive and very good on the ball.
“We shut them down quickly to leave them with little in the way of clear-cut opportunities while we created a few ourselves but were let down by our final pass.
“One piece of real quality won the game but we played our part in our downfall.
“We lost 7-1 in our last game against them so we wanted to show we were not that team and I think we did.”
Ewen Clark was denied the opener for Turriff in the first half before Josh Peters hit the post for Thistle early in the second half.
The deadlock was broken after 74 minutes when Max Barry wasn’t picked up in the box following a throw in and he curled a fine angled shot beyond the helpless David Dey to claim the three points.
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