Four-midable Cans

Forres Mechanics 5 Lossiemouth 2

Forres Mechanics moved into the top four for the first time this season as they took advantage of Formartine United, Clachnacuddin, Inverurie Locos and Nairn County all being idle to overtake all four of them thanks to their third win in a row.

The Can Cans are now four points behind the joint leaders Wick Academy (who have a game in hand) and Cove Rangers although the four sides mentioned in the opening paragraph all have games in hand.

While it may be hard to tell at this stage how the table would look if all the teams had played 15 matches Charlie Rowley knows that if his side can continue to build on their recent run of form which has seen them win five out of their last six matches then a successful title defence is still a possibility.

For now the focus is upon taking each game as it comes and Rowley admitted that the scoreline flattered his team, but that he was happy to take the points. “It wasn’t as easy a game as the scoreline suggests but in the end we got the win and that is what matters.

“They put us under pressure for a fifteen minute spell after we took the lead but the difference was that we were far more clinical when the chances came our way, otherwise it could have been a different game.

“We finished the first half 4-2 up but we just weren’t quite with it. Defensively we could have been a lot tighter but I was impressed with Lossiemouth. Overall though we deserved to come out as the winners.”

Focussing on the goals scored the manager was pleased to see a number of different contributors but highlighted the effectiveness of the Simon Allan set piece deliveries. “Once again the goals were shared about with four different players on the scoresheet and it is good to see the goals being shared about. Our physicality and height at corner kicks was crucial and our set pieces always offer us an opportunity to score.

“Simon Allan did the business once again with his supply, just as he had done against Brora last week, and it was good to see Graham Fraser getting a double because he is one of the guys that is always a threat when he goes up.”

Forres made a couple of changes to the side that defeated Brora Rangers last weekend with Simon Allan returning to the left back berth in place of Steven Fraser while Kyle Scott was moved into attack allowing Ross Macpherson to return in midfield. Ryan Green made way.

For the second home game in a row the goals flowed in the first forty-five. The Mechanics got their noses in front in the fourth minute when Simon Allan’s corner was met at the back post by Graham Fraser and his header had too much power on it for the diving Errol Watson and found its way into the back of the net.

Despite sitting third bottom of the table Lossie responded positively to this early set back and put the pressure on the Cans. They eventually got the reward for their efforts when a corner was only cleared as far as Garry McDonald and when the former Mechanics’ effort was parried Ross Archibald was in the right place at the right time to net on the rebound.

The equilibrium lasted exactly four minutes, for the second time in the game. That was not the only similarity with the opening goal as once again it was Graham Fraser rising to bullet a header into the top corner of the net from a Simon Allan corner kick. Fraser has now netted more goals than he did throughout last season and remains on track to match his 6 goals scored in the 2010-2011 campaign.

Forres doubled their advantage in the 36 minute when Craig McGovern was rewarded for some positive wing play. He drove past Liam Archibald then delivered the ball into the box before following in to pounce on a miss clearance from Sam Milton to shimmy past Errol Watson and net with ease.

Lossie were rocking and they were struck by another blow within a minute. Sam Milton surrendered possession to Scott Lawrie who fed Kyle Scott in through the inside right channel and he dinked the ball over Errol Watson to put the Mechanics 4-1 up.

To their credit the Coasters responded once again. The worked their way into the penalty area and teased Stuart Knight into one of his rash challenges. He received a yellow card for battering over Ross Archibald who dusted himself off to take the penalty kick. Although the keeper temporarily redeemed himself with a save Archibald knocked home the rebound.

That goal may have gave the visitors some hope at half time, but they were not to recover from the Mechanics fifth which arrived two minutes after the turnaround. Nathan Sharp was the creator with a zinger of a throughball which gave Scott Lawrie the chance to skip past his man before slotting the ball beyond Watson to restore Forres’ three goal advantage.

The result of the match never looked in doubt from this point on although the Mechanics could have added to their tally. Craig McGovern was denied a second by a somewhat fortuitous stop by Errol Watson then late on both Matty Davidson and Simon Allan passed up chances.

However by this stage the attention was already turning towards next week’s trip to Fraserburgh, a team that Rowley rates highly, he said, “we now face a tough trip to Fraserburgh to play at possibly the toughest venue in the league to go away to and get a result. Not many teams have a good record there. We will need to be tight defensively.

“They have games in hand, we all know they'll get higher up the table in due course but with regards Saturday our aim is to keep them down the pecking order and we go into the game confident with a good start to the month so far”

There are doubts over both Nathan Sharp and Ryan Green who limped off during the course of the second half while Ryan Mackintosh, Fraser Bremner, Lee Fraser and Scott Moore are also likely to miss out.

Forres Mechanics: S Knight, G Fraser, S Allan, G Grant, N Sharp(S Fraser 52), R Macpherson, M McMullan (R Green 71 (M Davidson 78)), K Duguid, S Lawrie, K Scott, C McGovern Subs: J Main, M Fraser

Scorers: G Fraser (4, 21), CMcGovern (36), K Scott (37), S Lawrie (47)

Booked: S Knight (39), C McGovern (65) Sent Off: -

Lossiemouth: E Watson, L Archibald, S Milton, C Ross, K Flett, G McDonald, A Ross, F Stables(J Bagley 61), R Archibald, R Wardrop(S Miller 71), K Grant(S McIntosh 79) Subs: L Davidson, S Mackenzie

Scorer: R Archibald (17, 39)

Booked: - Sent Off: -

Referee: D Ross