Mark Cowie was pleased to see Fraserburgh beat Formartine United – but admitted they’ve played better and failed to win this season.
In a tight Breedon Highland League encounter at Bellslea, the hosts prevailed 2-0 courtesy of goals in each half from Sean Butcher and Scott Barbour.
The victory makes it four matches unbeaten for Fraserburgh in all competitions and moves them up to ninth in the table.
Broch manager Cowie said: “The two teams cancelled each other out and both went direct.
“In the first half Formartine were better than us and we scored against the run of play.
“In the second half we haven’t kicked on, but in the 90 minutes Joe Barbour only had one save.
“Our backline marshalled things a little bit better than their backline and we’ve capitalised on a couple of errors.
“We’ve been playing well and on this occasion the performance dropped a bit but we got the win.
“It’s crazy this game, we played better football on Saturday (1-1 draw with Nairn) and didn’t win.
“Then we didn’t play as well tonight, but won 2-0. However, we defended really well as a unit so I’m delighted with that.
“We’re thankful for the three points, it gets us up the table a wee bit and hopefully we can kick on.”
Match action
In slippery underfoot conditions as a result of persistent rain clear-cut chances were at a premium.
United had one in the 12th minute when Marc Lawrence crossed from the left and Aidan Comble glanced a header narrowly wide.
In the final minute of the first period the Broch took the lead.
Butcher’s shot from the edge of the box was parried by goalkeeper Ewen Macdonald.
Scott Barbour seized upon the loose ball on the left side of the penalty area and crossed for the incoming Butcher to head into the net from six yards.
The second period continued in a similar vein to the first. Formartine did plenty of probing and the closest they came to an equaliser was in the 81st minute.
Goalkeeper Joe Barbour did well to tip away a spectacular first time volley from the left side of the area by sub Tyler Mykyta.
Five minutes later the Broch secured the points. United goalkeeper Macdonald had a free-kick down near the corner flag and tried to find Matthew McLean.
However, Logan Watt stole possession, drove into the box and unselfishly passed to Scott Barbour to finish from 10 yards.
United’s sequence ends
Defeat ends Formartine’s eight-game unbeaten run in the league.
Boss Stuart Anderson said: “I don’t think there was much in the game. We’ve made a couple of mistakes which have led to their goals, we’ve probably created our own downfall.
“Both defences were really good and didn’t allow chances to be created, but a couple of mistakes have cost us.
“For the second goal it’s a split-second decision. If a goalkeeper makes a mistake it’s normally a goal, a mistake anywhere else on the pitch you can rectify it.
“Unfortunately it’s gone in the net, but Ewen’s got enough experience to deal with that and I’m sure he will.”
Buckie Thistle 2-1 Nairn County
Reigning champions Buckie Thistle climbed from ninth to seventh spot in the Breedon Highland League thanks to three hard-earned points against a spirited Nairn County outfit at Victoria Park.
In the third minute, from a Buckie corner taken by Jack MacIver, Joe McCabe powered home a header high past Logan Ross into the roof of the net.
On the quarter hour mark the unmarked Josh Peters should have done better than shoot high over the County crossbar from 20 yards.
County’s first chance came in the 24th minute when Mark Ridgers came for a deep cross but failed to gather, a County player got his head to the ball but it landed on the roof of the net.
Buckie went straight up the park, MacIver again played in Peters but with only Ross to beat the striker fired a yard wide of the upright from 12 yards.
MacIver makes his mark
In the 28th minute MacIver took a free-kick from 25 yards out wide on the left and the winger bulleted the ball high past Ross at the keeper’s near post.
Four minutes later Buckie again had the ball in the County net but this time Marcus Goodall was clearly offside when he tucked the ball away from close range.
County pulled one back in the 42nd minute when Ben Barron ran on to a long through ball from Ross Hardie and placed the ball beyond Ridgers from 10 yards.
Two minutes after the restart it took a brilliant goal-line clearance from Innes MacKay to stop a Kenny McKenzie 20-yarder from giving Nairn an equaliser.
On the hour mark Peters saw his snap-shot blocked by Ross’s outstretched foot as Buckie went in search of a third goal.
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