Forres Thistle return to North Region junior football action with big win over Whitehills helped by Matty Fraser hat-trick
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A MATTY Fraser hat trick helped Forres Thistle close the gap on the leaders in north junior Division Two.
Jags thumped Whitehills 6-1 in their first match of 2022 and are now just two points behind front runners Rothie Rovers.
The Logie Park side weren’t at their best in the first half, going behind before drawing the scores level at the break.
An own goal gifted ’Hills a shock lead on 20 minutes before Fraser fired into the roof of the net 10 minutes later to tie things up.
Into the second half, Forres captain Mattie Davidson had a goal disallowed for offside, but didn’t take long to get on the scoresheet, racing clear to fire Jags into the lead for the first time.
That provided the spark for the home side to go on and turn on the style.
Aaron Mclellan made it 3-1 with a header from a Davidson corner, and another corner by the Thistle skipper picked out Fraser for his second goal soon after.
Fraser’s treble wasn’t far away, scoring this time from the spot after Neil Moir was fouled in the area by a Whitehills defender.
The scoring was completed by Charlie Beck, whose first effort was saved, but he followed up to stroke the ball into the net.
With Rothie’s match at Burghead Thistle postponed, Forres closed the gap to two points, although they have played one more game than their title rivals.
Thistle are next in action on Saturday when they make the journey to Buchan to take on Cruden Bay.
