Fraserburgh manager Mark Cowie was full of praise for the way his team shook off any festive cobwebs as they dismantled and defeated a young Turriff United team 4-0 at Bellslea.
The Broch dominated the game from the opening whistle with goals from Ryan Cowie, Paul Campbell, Sean Butcher and substitute Gary Harris ensuring the Aberdeenshire side kicked off 2020 with a victory.
Cowie was pleased with his team’s performance but refused to be drawn into any title talk, as they moved up to third in the Highland League.
He said: “I’m delighted with how we played, we’ve had a month where we have only played three games and then with the festive period training has been disrupted, with players being unavailable so it’s been a nightmare time but we’ve got a clean sheet and we’ve always got players who can score goals.
“We are always dangerous and started perfectly with a goal early on, although our overall play could have been better but now with a bit of normality with training, our next game will stand us in better stead.
“I’m just taking things one game at a time, at the end of March we will see if we can realistically challenge for anything.
“My concentration is on Forres next and I will let everyone else worry about the league.”
The Broch scored with their first attack in the second minute, with Campbell’s low cross from the right being swept into the net by Cowie.
Turriff were pinned back into their half for the entirety of the first period.
The home team doubled their lead on the 23rd minute when Campbell played an excellent one-two with Owen Cairns which cut open the Turra defence and allowed Campbell to slot the ball past Fraser Hobday.
Hobday needed to be at his best to keep out the relentless Broch as he saved well from Scott Barbour after a well-worked short corner.
However, the keeper was helpless from the resulting corner when Butcher bulleted home from Cowie’s delivery.
In the second half, Turra had Hobday to thank for keeping out Barbour.
The Broch got their fourth goal late on when Andrew Hannar hit an inch-perfect pass to Harris who slotted past the goalkeeper.
Turra assistant manager Graeme Mathieson said: “We were disappointed to go in at the break 3-0 but we never really created a lot of chances.
“We came with a gameplan to try and make it difficult for Fraserburgh as we knew it was going to be hard and I thought in the second half we coped really well with them and was disappointed to lose that fourth goal.”