Fraserburgh manager Mark Cowie paid tribute to striker Scott Barbour as he grabbed the only goal of the game to defeat Lossiemouth 1-0 and go level with Michael Stephen as the club’s all-time leading scorer.
Both players have netted 237 goals for the Broch and Cowie said “It’s been a while coming and hopefully he can break the record soon so he can relax a bit more.
“But he’s an unbelievable player and I could spend a whole night going on about his accolades and how important he is to me.
“While he hasn’t hit the form of his career at this very moment he is still in my mind the best striker in the league and we are delighted he is in our side.
“This was a hard earned three points, you just have to look at Lossie’s results having not dropped points at home since September, so we knew it was going to be difficult as Frank McGettrick is a very good coach.
With a left footed shot from 8 yards into the centre of the net after Josh Bolton’s right footed pass to him to make it 0-1 (48) #theBroch @leagueHighland pic.twitter.com/rlUT38JaLE
— Fraserburgh FC (@FraserburghFC) December 9, 2023
“It wasn’t pretty from either side but we started the second half stronger and got the goal but it flattered us a little bit.
“As they pushed for an equaliser we caused them problems on the break although neither keeper was busy throughout.”
The only goal in a game of few clear-cut chances came three minutes after the break.
Josh Bolton and Aidan Sopel created the opening for Barbour to turn his marker in the box to fire home from ten yards and write another moment of history in his career.
Coasters take positives
Lossiemouth manager Frank McGettrick was pleased with his team’s display if not the result saying there were plenty positives for his players to take from the game.
He added: “Fraserburgh are a strong side who pushed their players high up the park in the first half which saw us having to defend which we did very well.
“We were too deep for the goal early in the second half and didn’t pick up the runners.
“After that we stepped on and changed the formation pushing an extra body forward and we had two very good chances to get back into the game.
“This was a learning curve for my players against a powerful and talented Fraserburgh side.”
Strathspey Thistle 0-2 Forres Mechanics
Forres Mechanics recorded their first win in the Breedon Highland League since August 19 by beating Strathspey Thistle 2-0 at Seafield Park.
After picking up three points from their last 10 league fixtures it was a welcome victory for the Can-Cans.
Ross Logan passed up an early chance for the Grantown Jags before the visitors took the lead just after the half hour mark.
Gregor MacDonald’s left wing cross to the back post was headed down by Calum Frame for Ethan Cairns to finish.
MacDonald almost added to the tally, but his spectacular long range effort was headed onto the crossbar by Thistle defender Taylor Sutherland.
Just before half-time Shaun Morrison added Forres’ second by heading home Mark McLauchlan’s cross from the left.
Forres manager Steven MacDonald said: “First half I think we did OK and did enough to be in front.
“In the second half we could have been better and Strathspey kept at us, there’s still plenty to work on but it was good to get back to winning ways.
“The objective was to try to keep a clean sheet and get three points and we did that. Hopefully we can build on this result going forward.”
Strathspey remain bottom of the table and boss Robert MacCormack added: “We conceded two really sloppy goals from crosses where we didn’t react well.
“I’m disappointed because I feel we were beaten by a team that weren’t any better than us.
“Games like these are an example of where we need to pick up points when they’re available. If we don’t start picking up points in games like these then we’re going to struggle.
“We competed well with Forres but we haven’t go anything out of it which is the disappointing thing.”
