Match Report - By John Hoey

Brechin stormed to an emphatic and deserved 4-1 victory against near neighbours Arbroath in the Angus derby at Gayfield.

Charlie King, Rory McAllister with a brace and Neil Janczyk were all on the mark for City who produced one of their best performances of the season to pick up their first away points.

The win moves City up the Second Division table to 3rd place and Brechin supporters must be delighted not only with the victory, but also the manner in which it was achieved.

City boss Jim Duffy made a couple of changes from the side that beat Dumbarton 3-1 a fortnight previously.

Kevin Byers and Ian Harty dropped to the bench with Jon Seeley coming back in at centre-half to partner Paul McLean with Barry Smith moving up into midfield. Charlie King also returned to the side, moving into a striking position alongside Rory McAllister. New signing Kris Renton from Norwich City found a place on the bench.

City pushed forward from the outset and a Smith shot from 25 yards after just three minutes was well wide of the target.

Janczyk had the ball in the net for City six minutes later, but the stand-side linesman had previously flagged for offside.

In the 18th minute, Wille Dyer swung over a good cross from the left straight to King, but his header across the face of the penalty-box found no takers.

City were putting the hosts under a lot of pressure, and Robbie Raeside had to head a great Richard Walker cross from the right past his own post in the 26th minute.

A minute later, McAllister collected a short pass from Gary Fusco and fired in a shot, but it lacked power and trundled past the post.

Brechin came close again a couple of minutes later when a good Walker cross fell kindly for King but he fired high over the bar.

McAllister had another go nine minutes before the break when he tried a shot from 30 yards which only narrowly missed the target, and a couple of minutes later, he headed another good Walker cross just wide of the target.

Brechin had had the vast bulk of the pressure during the opening half, but they had a narrow let-off in the 42nd minute, when the Lichties, with virtually their only chance of the half, came close to opening the scoring.

A great ball from Raeside found Steven Dorris with space in the penalty-box, but with the goal at his mercy, the striker scooped the ball over the bar, and a minute later Steven Hislop fired in a shot from the edge of the box which went narrowly past.

City began the second-half on the offensive, and they wrapped up the points with three great goals within quarter of an hour.

Mark Docherty, who was having a superb game in midfield, broke through the Arbroath defence four minutes into the half only to be upended at the edge of the box by Jamie Redman. As Redman was the last man before Docherty and the goalkeeper, referee Mike Tumilty had no hesitation in sending him off and from the resultant free-kick, King curled a wonderful shot beyond the defensive wall which gave keeper Darren Hill no chance.

City made it two just seven minutes later, with Docherty again the instigator. He collected a pass from Dyer and weaved into the Arbroath box before sending a pass across to McAllister who made no mistake from around eight yards.

Brechin were now in top gear and they scored goal number three a minute later. Raeside trying to move the ball from defence mis-directed his pass straight to Janczyk, and the skipper moved forward a couple of paces before picking his spot in the net with Hill helpless.

City still powered forward, and on the hour mark, Steven Rennie had to look sharp to head away another great Walker cross and a minute later Arbroath substitute Robbie Ross, who had replaced Kevin McMullan at half-time had to boot away the ball for a corner with McAllister close at hand.

However, with twenty minutes remaining, City were shocked when the Lichties reduced the deficit with a good goal from Raeside.

The hosts won a free-kick 30 yards from goal and Paul Watson’s cross was met perfectly by the big centre-half who powered a header beyond the despairing arms of City keeper Craig Nelson.

Arbroath’s joy though, was short-lived as City leapt back into a three goal lead five minutes later in almost a carbon copy of their second goal.

Docherty made room for himself on the left, cut into the Arbroath box and sent a great ball across the face of the goal for McAllister whose low drive went straight into the bottom corner of the net.

With just eight minutes remaining, Arbroath won a free-kick in almost the same position as the one which led to their first goal, but Watson’s kick was gathered safely by Nelson.

Brechin boss Jim Duffy said,

“ It was a very satisfying display from the team.

To come to Arbroath and win the match, regardless of the score-line is important locally, and it’s important for team confidence to go away from home and win three points.”

“ All in all I’m delighted with the result and particularly with the second-half performance.”

“ In the first-half we controlled most of the game, but we didn’t look too much of a threat although we had a couple of half-chances.”

“ However, when we scored the first goal and Arbroath had a player sent off we managed to capitalise. It doesn’t often happen that way and I was pleased that we managed to take advantage. There’s no doubt that the sending-off was very harsh, but unfortunately that’s the rule.

“ We played very well, it was a perfect day for football which doesn’t happen all that often here and we took advantage of that.”

“ We changed the shape of the team a wee bit today. We looked for more support from midfield and we moved Neil Janczyk a little bit higher up the pitch.”

“ The players tried hard to implement what I’d asked them to do and as a manager I was very pleased about that and if they do that you can’t complain too much.”

“ It was a terrific goal from Charlie. That’s undoubtedly his forte. From 20 yards out he hit it perfectly and no goalkeeper was ever going to save it.”

“ Thereafter, we managed to capitalise on the extra-man advantage although it doesn’t always work like that.”

“ Arbroath had a few problems with players missing, but in the first-half they made it very difficult for us. Their commitment was excellent as was shown by the goal and they were always a threat at set-pieces, but from my point of view, we passed the ball well for the majority of the second-half.”

“ You’re never going to dominate games all the time, but for long periods we controlled things and we took our chances which was very important. Rory got a couple of goals, and Charlie and Neil got a goal apiece, so there were a lot of positives for us to take from the game. The most important thing however was getting three points away from home and I’m delighted about that.”


Arbroath manager John McGlashan commented,

“ I thought that Brechin had the better of the first-half, even before the sending-off.”

“ We probably had the best chance of the opening 45 minutes with Steven Dorris, but Brechin had more of the ball.”

“ Brechin are a good team, there’s no doubt about that. They have good quality players and they played extremely well today.”

“ We didn’t have enough of the ball to give ourselves any momentum going forward, and when we did have it we were closed down very quickly by a very good Brechin team.”

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