Match Report - By John Hoey

Brechin City 3 Stranraer 0

New Brechin City manager Ray McKinnon got his managerial reign off to a dream start with an emphatic 3-0 victory over bottom club Stranraer at Glebe Park.

Andy Jackson with a couple of goals, and David McKenna were on the mark for City in a victory they fully deserved. Stranraer certainly didn't sit back and defend and they contributed greatly towards what was an enjoyable 90 minutes but City played with an assurance that has been lacking over the past few weeks and the quality of the performance as well as the victory must have been satisfying for the new manager.

Gerry McGlauchlan who had been rated at no more than 50-50 before the game had recovered from injury and was in his usual place in central defence while Johnny Stewart made way for Craig Molloy who was making his first start for three weeks.

Former City defender Mick Dunlop was at number 4 in the Stranraer defence.

City were shocked within the very first minute when the visitors almost opened the scoring but striker Craig Malcolm overran the ball and the chance was lost.

City hit right right back. Paul McLean made ground on the right and passed to Jackson at the edge of the box who fired a shot just over the bar.

City continued to press and Alan Trouten did really well to beat a couple of defenders on the right before passing to Kurtis Byrne whose first-time shot hit the side-netting.

The Blues then had a period of possession which ended with McLean clearing a Sean Winter shot off the line and six minutes later, Frank McKeown headed a Chris Aitken corner just past Craig Nelson's left-hand post.

City again regained the initiative and Byrne made ground on the right before passing inside the box to David McKenna whose first-time shot was saved by David Mitchell and the same player headed the rebound just past the post.

City were playing some good football and they deservedly grabbed the lead four minutes later.

A Trouten shot from the left-side of the penalty area was blocked by the Blues defence and Jackson pounced quickly to to fire home the opener.

Jackson almost made it two four minutes later when his first-time shot from a Byrne pass was saved by Mitchell but Jacko made no mistake on the half-hour mark when he fired home a beauty from just within the box, with Byrne again the provider.

Trouten had a chance four minutes later when he collected a good cross-field pass from Johnny Brown and cut inside but his shot was well saved by Mitchell.

The visitors made a change at the beginning of the second-half with Michael Moore replacing Dean Agnew and the big striker made an immediate impact when his header from an Aitken corner was tipped over the bar by Craig Nelson after only six minutes.

Trouten, who was having a superb game for City was desperately unlucky in the 61st minute when he weaved his way past a couple of defenders in the box and fired in a shot which was parried for a corner by Mitchell.

Stranraer were pushing hard to pull back the deficit, but the game was over as a contest in the 65th minute when City went three goals up.

McLean made a lot of ground down the right and crossed to David McKenna at the edge of the box and the former Stirling striker kept his cool to slot the ball past Mitchell for his second goal of the season.

With fifteen minutes remaining, City substitute Derek Carcary who had replaced Byrne just a couple of minutes before broke down the middle, ran past a couple of defenders and fired in a shot which Mitchell did well to save.

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