Managerless Brechin City romped home to an emphatic 6-0 victory over Clachnacuddin at Glebe Park.
It was a superb display of attacking football which delighted interim boss Stephen Simmons and the final margin of victory could have been even greater but for some fantastic saves from Clach keeper Daniel Rae.
Simmons said: “I thought that the boys were great.
“If I’m being greedy I really wanted more goals as we created plenty of chances over the 90 minutes.
“It would have been easy for Clach to have given up in the second-half but they defended well and made it difficult but we still had some great opportunities.
“I was getting a wee bit worried in the first-half given the number of great saves the Clach keeper was making and the chances we were missing.
“But the boys kept at it, played the ball really quickly and got their reward with the goals.”
Simmons would not be drawn on whether he is a candidate for the vacant manager’s post at Glebe Park with an appointment expected in the coming week but the way the players performed on Saturday under his stewardship will certainly give the City board food for thought.
City set the tone from the first whistle
City piled on the pressure straight from the kick-off and they scored the opener after 15 minutes when Fraser Macleod rifled the ball home from just within the box after some great link-up play.
It was 2-0 for the hosts after 27 minutes when Grady McGrath fired the ball home after a Ewan Loudon shot had been blocked.
Rampant City added a further couple of goals within two minutes to wrap up the points with McGrath firing home from close range on the half-hour mark and Loudon following up to drill home goal number four a minute later.
Hamish Thomson scored City’s fifth goal eight minutes into the second-half when he rose above the visitors defence to head home a Macleod corner.
McGrath completed his hat-trick and the scoring a couple of minutes into stoppage time when he fired the ball into the bottom corner from around eight yards out.
Clach assistant manager Robbie Duncanson was far from impressed with his side’s showing.
He said: “I thought that the boys were beaten before they even took the field as there was a real lack of belief that we could come here and do anything.
“The match just summed up the league table for me. We are where we are and we’re second bottom of the table for a reason.”
Hunter scores twice but Huntly held at Wick
Wick Academy came from behind twice to earn a 2-2 draw with Huntly.
The Scorries have taken seven points from their last three home games and player-coach Alan Farquhar, deputising for Gary Manson who missed out through illness, felt they should’ve taken all three points.
He said: “We’ve had a run recently which hadn’t been great but last week we did well with a win against Inverurie Locos and I can’t say a bad word this week about any of the players on the park.
“They gave it their all, hit the post and we had good chances in the first half which we missed. I think in the end we deserved three points.
“Our goal scorer Kyle (Henderson) was on fire in the first half coming in from the wing and his link-up was good before tiring in the second half.”
Huntly assistant manager Stefan Laird was disappointed with the performance from his side who twice let a lead slip.
He said: “The two goals we scored were good but it was a one point gained for us and Wick should be extremely disappointed they didn’t get the three points as in absolutely no way did we deserve them.”
Wick fight back following Black and Golds’ flying start
Huntly got off to a great start with 66 seconds played.
Ryan Sewell played in to Angus Grant on the right channel and his low cross was drilled across the box for Andrew Hunter to turn in from close range to take his tally for the season into double figures.
Three minutes later, Wick broke forward on the counter attack and Kyle Henderson levelled with his first Wick goal.
The visitors restored their lead in the 20th minute when Ross Still’s shot struck the post and Hunter followed up with a low drive.
The Scorries pulled level again after 32 minutes when Gordon MacNab found the net with his fourth of the season courtesy of a superb 30 yard strike.
Still saw a shot blocked on the line and came close with a header from a Lyall Booth corner in the second half.
Wick had the better of the chances in the second half though and Fraser Hobday pulled off two crucial saves against Marc MacGregor and Ross Gunn to ensure his side kept up a seven match unbeaten run at Harmsworth Park.
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