Highland League: Banks o’ Dee edge past Huntly

Banks o’ Dee co-manager Paul Lawson hailed Mark Gilmour’s moment of quality which secured a 1-0 victory against Huntly.

In a game at Spain Park where defences were firmly on top midfielder Gilmour – making his return after 12 weeks out with an ankle injury – won it for the Aberdeen outfit with a fine finish.

After a draw and a defeat in their last two matches this was a welcome victory for Dee, who are sixth in the Breedon Highland League table.

Lawson said: “It’s good to get back to winning ways. It wasn’t a great game, but we won it thanks to a moment of quality.

“Both sides worked very hard, but there wasn’t too much quality on show.

“However, Mark Gilmour showed a little bit of quality and composure with his finish after Ramsay Davidson put a great ball in.

“Mark’s a big player for us and he’s not usually on the bench, but he’s just back, the plan was to give him 30 minutes and he went on and showed his quality.”

Match action

In a cagey first half the closest either side came was in the 14th minute when Dee’s Liam Duell skipped clear on the left wing, and although goalkeeper Lenny Wilson spilled his angled drive, Greig McNaughton cleared the danger.

Left-back McNaughton was the creator of Huntly’s brightest moment in the opening 45 minutes, but his cross from the left just evaded the unmarked Ryan Sewell.

After the break Max Alexander’s shot from the edge of the box was held by Wilson, but the breakthrough arrived in the 76th minute.

Ramsay Davidson’s cross from the right fell for substitute Gilmour to thump a shot into the bottom right corner from 15 yards.

As time ticked down Duell headed over as Dee looked for a second, while the closest Huntly came to an equaliser was in the third minute of stoppage time when sub Callum Murray’s shot from 14 yards was deflected over the crossbar by Davidson.

Stewart demands improvement

The Black and Golds remain 10th in the table and manager Graeme Stewart said: “It’s one of the poorest games I’ve been involved in during all my time in the Highland League.

“Both teams were lacking in quality and fair play to Banks o’ Dee they won, but it looked like it had 0-0 written all over it.

“We’re judging the team between now and the end of the season and I’ll be expecting massive improvement next season.

“We need more quality in the final third, but if the quality isn’t there just now or we’re not playing well the guys need to get fitter or stronger or do things within their control to influence a game.

“There’s lots of free things in football: communication, fitness, aggression and work-rate. We need to be better at those things to win games and make things happen offensively.”

[Source: Press and Journal]