In this, the second of a 2 part sojourn through Brechin City’s “Great Escape” season, we pick up the story in January and re-live the events right through to the season’s conclusion in late April.

JANUARY

2016 saw a couple of false starts. Firstly the eagerly anticipated New Year derby against Forfar Athletic was rightly postponed at a time when the severity of rainfall was causing flooding and evacuations elsewhere in the town. Snowfall the following weekend saw the abandonment at half-time of the clash at Ochilview against Stenhousemuir, with the home side leading 1-0. When the telling action finally got underway, City pulled back a 3-1 half-time deficit at home to Airdrieonians to secure a battling 3-3 draw. Of significance here were debuts for loanees Lewis Spence – a scoring one at that – and Scott Shepherd. City’s late equaliser was scored by player-manager Darren Dods, his first goal for the Club – one he clearly relished judging by his celebration. This was followed by a 2-0 reverse at Stranraer in a game which City’s display merited little.

FEBRUARY

The 2 games in January would be followed by 5 in February, starting with a Tuesday clash against Stenhousemuir following the January abandonment. In a game which could have gone either way, City’s only 0-0 draw of the season ensured that The Warriors maintained a 12 point advantage. The game saw a debut for Aberdeen loanee Lukas Culjak, but saw the defensive injury jinx strike again with the departure of Darren McCormack, leaving Dods – not for the first time – to step in and deputise. Fellow strugglers Cowdenbeath were next to visit Glebe Park and an unusual error from ‘Buzz’ in the City goal late in the game appeared to hand the initiative to the Central Park side. However, Scott Shepherd drilled home a 94th minute equaliser – his only goal in City colours for the Falkirk striker. Just how crucial this goal would be became apparent over the following weeks, as it ensured that The Blue Brazil headed back to Fife with a 7-point advantage rather than a seemingly insurmountable 10.

The by-now runaway league leaders Dunfermline were next to visit The Glebe, with over 1000 fans witnessing a 2-1 victory for The Pars which was more comfortable than the scoreline suggests. City next headed to Coatbridge on a Tuesday evening for a game postponed 10 days prior. In an abject performance City went into the break 3 goals down, ultimately losing 4-1. The only incident of note was that City’s goal was the second of only 2 successfully converted penalties all season, this also seeing Paul McLean’s only appearance on the scoresheet. Remarkably, the 6 penalties awarded over the season were all taken by different players, with misses for Andy Jackson, Willie Dyer, Robert Thomson and Isaac Layne. The feeling of foreboding was exacerbated the following Saturday, with a convincing 4-1 victory for the home side at Balmoor – a Peterhead side in good form – with former City striker Rory McAllister grabbing himself a hat-trick. The one bright spot for City was the debut of Airdrieonians loanee Liam Watt who scored on his debut, and would go on to make a hugely telling impact in the run-in. The post-match “We do hope you stay up” comments from home directors were genuine and well meaning, but perhaps did little to appease those of a City persuasion, looking on forlornly at the league standings:

7th Stenhousemuir P 25 GD -17 Pts 32
8th Cowdenbeath P 26 GD -20 Pts 28
9th Forfar Athletic P 25 GD -6 Pts 25
10th Brechin City P 26 GD -24 Pts 18

With City perpetually rooted to the bottom, and 1 victory in 4 months, The Glebe Parkers had 10 games over the next 2 months to tackle the seemingly herculean task of avoiding relegation.

MARCH:

The next twist in City’s season was as resounding as it was unexpected. The re-scheduled New Year derby against Forfar Athletic, who had by now dispensed with long-serving Manager Dick Campbell, is now seen by many as a pivotal game. Indeed some City fans point to an incident during the game as the more precise fulcrum upon which City’s season turned. At 0-0 in the first half Darren Dods received a caution for a non too subtle block on a Forfar striker which many would have seen as a game-turning red card. City went on to run out worthy 4-0 victors, with a euphoric Dods delivering the second goal. Liam Watt further endeared himself to the home supporters by scoring 2 more. Robert Thomson rounded off the scoring, signalling the start of a priceless scoring streak of 8 goals in 8 games, which also included a late headed winner in the following game at home to Ayr United. The response from the City players and supporters at full time was quite memorable, with Jonathon Tiffoney in particular keen to ‘celebrate’ as he had been on the receiving end of some distasteful abuse from the away fans from his former Club.

City then travelled to Airdrieonians securing themselves a 2-0 victory courtesy in part to a delicious goal from Lewis Spence – a remarkable 35-yard lob which would challenge match reporters in their use of superlatives. Suddenly from seemingly nowhere, City had chalked up 3 consecutive victories with 3 clean sheets and, despite remaining bottom, were only 2 points from 8th place. For the first time City players left the field to the renditions of “The Great Escape” theme from the increasingly upbeat travelling support. Next up, 2 goals in the final 10 minutes gave City their first win of the season over Albion Rovers, the late winner coming from new recruit Liam Coogans on his home debut. The month would see two new loan additions from Dundee United in the form of youngsters Jamie Robson and Jassem Sukar. Robson made his City debut in front of over 4000 expectant Pars fans at East End Park, in a game which could see them clinch the League One Title with a victory if a struggling Cowdenbeath could beat Peterhead at Balmoor – but surely that couldn’t happen? Darren Dods himself became the next victim of City’s defensive injury woes leaving the field after only 5 minutes. A makeshift rearguard struggled initially and Dunfermline (again!) made their customary fast start going 2-0 up within 25 minutes. The by-now ‘on fire’ Robert Thomson pulled a goal back and, quite amazingly City went toe-to-toe against their full time opposition. It took a stoppage time ‘worldie’ from Faissal El Bakhtoui, securing a hat-trick in the process, to crown The Pars as Champions – as the unthinkable had indeed happened at Peterhead. It was a worrying outcome for City as a Cowdenbeath victory was potentially as damaging for City as it was welcome for their Fife neighbours. That said, despite the defeat, the confidence and morale built up prior to this game, remained fully intact as City headed into April’s 5-game run-in.

APRIL:

The month started with a somewhat ill-tempered clash at The Glebe against Stenhousemuir. The points stayed with the home side as a result of a spectacular overhead kick from Robert Thomson, a strike which would be the runaway winner of the online fans poll for City’s Goal of the Season. Despite a late red card for each team in a multi-player skirmish in front of the Centre Stand, Robert’s strike ensured that City achieved their objective of keeping The Warriors ‘in the mix’. Although still anchored to the bottom, there were now only 3 points separating the 4 bottom teams – each having 4 games left to play. With renewed confidence City then headed to Central Park to face a head-to-head with fellow relegation rivals Cowdenbeath. Despite the loss of a first minute goal, City played exceptionally well on a quite dreadful surface, notching a deserved equaliser through Lewis Spence with 20 minutes to go. It would result in heartache for Brechin City though as the home side grabbed a late if ill-deserved winner.

City would then face a hugely challenging fixture as Peterhead came to The Glebe only a week after facing Rangers at Hampden in front of over 48,000 fans in The Petrofac Training Cup Final. An early goal from Andy Jackson helped settle the home side, but not even the most ardent City fan would have dared hope for a 4-1 scoreline – and that was only half-time! The second half saw only one more goal, but this saw Robert Thomson secure what would be his only Brechin City hat-trick. The result would see City move up from the automatic relegation place into a play-off place with only 2 games to go. The final scheduled home game saw City host Stranraer, who were themselves looking to secure a slot in the promotion play-offs. A tight game was settled by a gleeful Jamie Robson – a goal which would be of huge significance across the county. Firstly, it lifted City to a season’s high of 8th and, coupled with a Forfar Athletic loss at Albion Rovers, meant that The Loons would now definitely occupy the automatic relegation slot. City now found themselves firmly in control of their own destiny and, with one game to go, could now potentially even avoid the nerve-shredding play-offs.

In the kind of twist only football seems to create, this final game would take place at Station Park. Cowdenbeath headed off to play-off chasing Stranraer knowing they had to better City’s result as their goal difference was so inferior. Just before half-time Darren McCormack nodded home his ever first City goal, and a red card for the homesters early in the second half seemed to have things playing out ideally for City. The win, and League One status, was clinched in spectacular style by a stunning finish from Jamie Robson. Late drama was still to come as Forfar scored in stoppage time, but by now news was filtering through that Cowdenbeath had lost at Stranraer and City were safe. Indeed Stenhousemuir losing at home to Albion Rovers too meant that City ultimately finished on a season high of 7th place. Between the 2 late goals, the occasion was soured by a red card issued to City skipper Craig ‘Tiger’ Molloy, who had come on as a substitute only a few minutes earlier for what would be his final appearance for The Club. Although not a stranger to yellow cards, this was only his 3rd ordering off in his 6 years with City (his previous being over 4 years ago) and it was a real shame that the affable Club Captain trooped off in such a disconsolate manner.

So that was that. Season over. Cowdenbeath would ultimately fail in the Play-offs and be relegated to the fourth tier, and Stranraer would come up only slightly short, finishing only a penalty shoot out away from the Championship. The final bottom four league standings would finish like this:

7th Brechin City P 36 GD -12 Pts 42
8th Stenhousemuir P 36 GD -34 Pts 40
9th Cowdenbeath P 36 GD -26 Pts 39
10th Forfar Athletic P 36 GD -12 Pts 34

Instead of competing in a League Two which would include all 3 other Angus clubs, and bringing with it travel to Elgin City, Berwick Rangers and SPFL newcomers Edinburgh City, Brechin City would be renewing acquaintances with Livingston, Alloa Athletic and East Fife – and looking forward to return visits to Hampden Park to play newly-promoted Queen’s Park.

In a fitting end to the season, Player-Manager Darren Dods received the final Ladbrokes League One Manager of the Month award, and Robert Thomson was the recipient of the Player of the Month equivalent - also finishing as The Club’s top scorer for the season with 15 goals.

Darren, his assistant Lee Bailey, and all of their playing and coaching squad – be that permanent signings, short-term signings and loanees – deserve huge credit for pulling off this remarkable, memorable and at times unthinkable, Great Escape.

In concluding this meandering written reminisce, allow me to share the reply from a well-kent Brechin City worthy when, with about 4 games to go, he was asked his views about the nominations for the Goal of the Season award. The simple reply was:

“I’ll vote for the goal which keeps us up!”