Match Report - By Steven Mew

Brechin City continued their fine run of form as goals in each half from Danny Handling and Marc Scott sealed another important 3 points against Inverurie Locos yesterday afternoon.

On a heavy surface, it would be fair to say City weren’t at their fluent best but put in a power of work whilst defending resolutely to come away with the victory.

Manager Gavin Price made one change to the side that defeated Lossiemouth last weekend, with Kevin McHattie returning for Nathan Cooney who dropped to the bench.

In front of a healthy travelling contingent, City got off to the perfect start as they took the lead with less than 3 minutes on the clock. Marc Scott curled an in-swinging cross into the danger area for DANNY HANDLING who sneaked into the box unmarked to head home despite the best efforts of Ellis to keep it out.

It was a welcome early goal for City at a venue that has proved difficult over the last few years, and against a side that have shown marked improvement since the appointment of Dean Donaldson.

The hosts went in search of an equaliser and Jamie McCabe was equal to a curling effort from Thomas Reid just before the quarter hour mark. Shortly after, the City keeper was called into action again as he did well to push away a powerful strike from Jay Halliday.

Midway through the half, home custodian Zack Ellis made a fine save to keep out Ewan Loudon’s diving header from Marc Scott’s delivery.

Inverurie continued to look dangerous, with former Aberdeen youth Milosz Ochmanski dragging a shot wide of goal from the edge of the box.

Towards the end of the half, Marc Scott smashed an effort into the side netting from a tight angle whilst Lewis Martin sliced a shot well wide from range.

Locos were first to threaten at the start of the second half, but Lloyd Robertson’s strike from range ended up high and wide. Almost immediately up at the other end, Marc Scott collected a pass from Loudon inside the box before bringing the ball inside on his left foot but his shot was blocked by the Locos defence.

Just before the hour mark, Jamie Richardson’s outstanding work-rate very nearly paid off as he put pressure on the Locos defence as they looked to play their way out. Goalkeeper Zack Ellis’s clearance was charged down by the City winger but the ball went narrowly past the post.

With 65 minutes on the clock, City grabbed the all-important second goal to give them some breathing space. Lewis Martin found MARC SCOTT with a searching ball forward and ‘Marco’ managed to cut inside on his left foot before prodding the ball through the legs of the goalkeeper and into the net.

On 72 minutes, Luke Strachan made a darting run down the left before firing a right footed shot from 25 yards straight at Ellis.

The home side continued to work hard as they looked to get themselves back into the game, but they found it difficult to create any real openings against a well organised City defence.

With 3 minutes remaining, substitute Hamish Thomson nearly put the icing on the cake as he met a right sided corner but his header was cleared off the line.

In stoppage time, two other substitutes in Matthew Wright and Sean Hastie combined upfront with the latter being denied with a fine save at the near post.

Overall it was another excellent 3 points for City which sets them up nicely for a hugely important fixture at home to Buckie Thistle next weekend.

Other Results - Breedon Highland League

Banks O' Dee 4 Deveronvale 1

Buckie Thistle 3 Rothes 1

Formartine United 2 Fraserburgh 2

Lossiemouth 2 Strathspey Thistle 1

Turriff United 4 Huntly 0