Fraserburgh manager Mark Cowie praised his players after the Broch inflicted a first league defeat of the season on leaders Brechin City with a deserved 1-0 victory in a hard-fought and competitive encounter at Glebe Park.
“We’ve had a bit of a start-stop season which has been disappointing but I though that the work-rate and performance that the boys put in was tremendous,” he said.
“It’s not often you come down here and limit Brechin to very few chances and I think they only had one or two clear-cut opportunities over the course of the game.
“It was a tremendous result for us, particularly going into next Sunday’s Highland League Cup final against Brora Rangers.
“We’ve used virtually all of the squad over the last few games and the boys have responded really well so it’s important now that we kick on and make sure we have a really strong finish to the end of the season.”
The only goal of the game came after 20 minutes when City goalkeeper Lenny Wilson was adjudged to have handled a pass-back just outside the box.
Referee Mike Roncone immediately awarded a free-kick to the visitors and when Logan Watt’s kick rebounded from the City defensive wall straight into the path of Ryan Cowie, the 32 year-old wasted no time in firing a blistering drive into the top corner of the net.
City tried to hit back and their best chance came just before the break when Fraser MacLeod weaved his way into the Broch box before firing in a right-foot drive which required a superb save from Broch keeper Joe Barbour.
The second-half was fiercely contested but Fraserburgh held on to run out deserved winners.
FULL TIME | Brechin City 0-1 Fraserburgh
City suffer their first league defeat of the season as Ryan Cowie’s first goal earns the visitors all 3 points. pic.twitter.com/XIBCMmwCLY
— Brechin City FC (@BrechinCityFC) November 25, 2023
New City manager Gavin Price, in only his second match in charge, was disappointed with the result and his side’s performance.
“We didn’t start the match well and we got found out because of that,” he said.
“Although we dominated the game we didn’t create nearly enough clear-cut chances.
“It’s very disappointing because we had high hopes of getting a victory today and enhancing our position at the top of the league.
“However, it didn’t happen and we’ve now got to re-group and get on with things.
“We played well in the first half against Keith in midweek but we just lacked the spark we showed then today which was very disappointing.”
Inverurie Locos 3-0 Deveronvale
Inverurie Locos followed up away wins at Keith and Forres by making it three wins in a row with a comfortable home win over Deveronvale.
The result moves Dean Donaldson’s side up to 12th position in the Breedon Highland League.
Donaldson said: “We probably should have scored more but that’s just me being greedy.
“The second goal from Nathan Meres was really pleasing.
“I gave him objectives before the game, he’s been tending to overplay so I told him he needs to be shooting more, he does it in training.
“It’s a performance of note because I want to play with lots of energy, making sure we dictate the tempo and play with tempo in possession too.
“You can see the confidence is growing and building.”
In only three months minutes Locos went in front.
Cole Anderson was allowed space on the right hand side and when his low ball across the face of goal was not cleared, Myles Gaffney rolled the ball over the line.
In 28 minutes Locos doubled the advantage through a goal of sheer quality as Nathan Meres twisted and turned 25 yards out before firing high into the roof of the net leaving Sean McIntosh well beaten.
Logan Johnstone, who had been booked early on, was sent off after receiving a second yellow in 35 minutes after querying a refereeing decision
The third goal in 52 minutes came following a goalkeeping error which allowed Gaffney to step in and score his second despite the close attentions of two Vale defenders.
On Johnstone’s red card, Donaldson added: “Logan just got carried away but games are played with passion and fight, he epitomises that. He just needs to channel it in the right way.”
Vale boss Craig Stewart said: “It’s an uphill task when you lose an early goal, a well worked goal from Locos’ viewpoint but we have to do better in tracking the runner and stopping the cross.
“Despite being two down we had competed well giving Locos problems defensively but when they went to ten men Locos were clearly the better team. Instead of us trying to kick on it was Locos in total control.
“Overall we got all that we deserved and I’ve had to question the desire of some players.”