Highland League results round-up: Brechin City and Banks o’ Dee draw
Saturday's action in the Breedon Highland League.
Brechin City boss Ray McKinnon was disappointed to draw with Banks o’ Dee – a result which means they slip off the top of the Breedon Highland League.
Brad McKay’s opener for the Hedgemen was cancelled out by Ashton Leiper’s strike for the Aberdeen side as an exciting encounter at Glebe Park finished 1-1.
Although it was Dee who looked the more threatening side in attack for much of this contest, McKinnon was left to rue missed opportunities in the final 20 minutes.
He said: “We’re disappointed because we had a couple of good chances late in the game to win it. But overall I think 1-1 was probably a fair result.
“It probably feels like two points dropped because of the chances we had, unfortunately we didn’t take them.
“We’re right there in the mix and hopefully we can do a bit of business in January to strengthen.
“We’ve been up against it due to injuries and we didn’t really have any width with Mitch Taylor and Mitchell Findlay being injured. That really restricts us in terms of trying to stretch teams.”
New recruit impresses as old favourite returns
For Banks o’ Dee co-manager Josh Winton the performance of Leiper – a recent loan signing from Dundee – and Michael Philipson making his first appearance of the campaign, after breaking his ankle in pre-season, were major positives.
Midfielder Philipson almost made the dream return when his curling 16-yard shot flashed a whisker wide in stoppage time.
Winton said: “Nobody works harder than Michael in terms of being in the gym and doing extra work to get back fit.
“To see him back after the setback he had was fantastic. He’s such a key player for us and having him back is great.
“We would have been delighted if he’d nestled that one in the corner at the end, but it’s just great to see him back.
“Ashton was lively, sharp and gave us composure in the right areas.
“He was a great out ball for us in the first half, we probably didn’t get him on the ball enough in the second half, but he’ll be a good addition.
“He’s a promising young talent and one to keep an eye on.”
Dee are eighth in the table, 15 points from the summit, but with three games in hand.
Winton added: “We’ll not look back at the end of the season thinking a point at Brechin is a disappointment.
“We need to keep plugging away and see what happens.”
Match action
Brechin broke the deadlock with their first foray forward in the eighth minute.
Grady McGrath’s inswinging corner from the left was fumbled by goalkeeper Matthew Duncan and McKay headed the loose ball into the net.
However, within six minutes Dee restored parity. Jevan Anderson’s pass found Kane Winton in space on the left flank and his low cutback was finished by Leiper from 12 yards.
The visitors had some good spells of pressure after that with Liam Duell and Winton forcing decent saves from City goalkeeper Craig Hepburn.
Just before the break Dee had a penalty claim dismissed by referee Owen Lawrence when Zack Stephen’s shot appeared to strike the arm of the sliding Euan Spark.
In the second period Sam Pugh’s curler from 20 yards was inches away, Joe McCabe had a drive blocked and Duell again stung Hepburn’s palms as Banks o’ Dee continued to probe.
However, in the final 20 minutes Brechin had two glorious chances to win.
On 73 minutes Finlay Allan blazed waywardly over the crossbar with only goalkeeper Duncan to beat and in the 85th minute Cillian Sheridan’s pinpoint pass released McGrath through on goal, but his effort drifted beyond the right post.
Substitute Philipson had the final opportunity to net the winner in added time, but it finished level, which means all four Highland League encounters between the clubs at Glebe Park have ended in draws.
Brora Rangers 3-0 Wick Academy
Champions Brora Rangers moved up to third in the table by beating Wick Academy in the North derby at Dudgeon Park.
Alex Cooper, Tony Dingwall and Shane Sutherland got the goals for the Cattachs, who sit three points off the the top and have two games in hand on the rest of the top five.
Meanwhile, the Scorries’ wait for a first league success against Brora since December 2012 goes on.
Formartine United 3-1 Turriff United
Formartine United came from behind to end Turriff United’s three-match winning streak and move to the top of the Highland League.
Murray Cormack put Turra ahead, but Hamish Ritchie equalised and further strikes from Rory McAllister and Marc Lawrence secured the points for the Pitmedden outfit.
Lossiemouth 0-2 Clachnacuddin
Clachnacuddin moved up to fourth in the table by beating Lossiemouth at Grant Park.
North football’s top scorer James Anderson netted for the Lilywhites in the first period, while in the second half Lossie’s Lewis McAndrew was sent off and the match was also briefly delayed due to floodlight failure.
However, when the lights came back Lewis Gibson netted a second for Clach prevailed which means the Coasters’ winless run now stands at eight matches.
Forres Mechanics 4-0 Inverurie Locos
Forres Mechanics ended 2025 in style with a 4-0 victory against Inverurie Locos at Mosset Park.
The North of Scotland Cup winners got all of their goals in the first half and manager Steven MacDonald said: “I was really pleased with the first half performance.
“Getting the first goal early on helped, but we never let up after that. Then in the second half we wanted to make sure we kept a clean sheet and we were happy we managed to do that.
“The boys deserve credit for looking after themselves over the Christmas period and making sure they were ready for the game.
“There was a good crowd there and it was good to put in a really good performance for the people that turned out to support us.”
Forres went ahead with a seventh minute penalty from captain Mark McLauchlan after Milosz Ochmanski had tripped Kaiden Connolly.
Three minutes later Ryan MacLeman’s superb left-foot shot from 25 yards found the top corner to make it 2-0.
In the 27th minute McLauchlan grabbed the Can-Cans’ third. Taylor Chapman was penalised for handling a Calum Frame cross inside the box, although goalkeeper Kyle Irvine saved the resultant McLauchlan spot-kick, he converted on the rebound.
Five minutes later Jack Grant volleyed in the fourth from a McLauchlan corner.
Railwaymen on bad run
Inverurie remain 16th in the table and are winless in eight matches in all competitions.
Manager Dean Donaldson said: “We deserved to get beat, we weren’t at the races.
“The penalty which led to the third goal was pretty harsh, Taylor Chapman was a yard away and the ball hit his arm.
“In my opinion it shouldn’t have been a penalty, but all of the goals were avoidable.
“We’re looking for a spark of some kind to get us going, we’re struggling to score goals and we’re not making the right decisions in the final third.
“Physically we’re not matching other teams and we’re getting bullied.
“It’s not nice seeing us getting beat like that, but sometimes you have to go through these periods to come out the other end in a better place.
“Sometimes players need spells like this to find out what it’s all about and they’ll improve for this period.”
Huntly 1-2 Nairn County
Nairn County are now seventh after defeating Huntly at Christie Park.
Gary Pullen and Andrew Greig had the Wee County two up and they prevailed, despite Alex Matczak pulling a goal back for the Black and Golds.
Meanwhile, Rothes v Fraserburgh at Mackessack Park and Strathspey Thistle v Buckie Thistle at Seafield Park were postponed due to frost.
[Source: Press and Journal]
