Holidays over for Mosset Park men

Forres Mechanics 1 Fraserburgh 1

A late penalty scored by Scott Lawrie gave Forres Mechanics a point which pleased Charlie Rowley a lot more than his side’s performance as he welcomed the opportunity to use the upcoming free week to get his holiday hit squad back up to full fitness.

The Mechanics manager was scathing in his assessment of the first half performance from his side and admitted that he is grateful for the first round bye in this season’s Scottish Cup.

“It’s not often we put in a performance like that, especially here. We were second best in the first half by a considerable distance and I was really disappointed with our first half display. The second half was much better, it was like night and day from our first half performance.

“We didn’t put them under massive amounts of pressure but had better possession in better areas and to get a point from the game is probably a great result at the end of the day.”

It means that the Can Cans end the month with four points from a possible nine and while most of the rest of the SHFL is on Scottish Cup duty the Forres management team is looking forward to working on the fitness of those players who have missed training and matches in recent weeks due to holidays.

“Given our showings up to now, I’m glad of a free Saturday. We will get them training but will also play a friendly on Tuesday and Saturday so we can get the guys who’ve been away closer to full fitness

“We have been really hit by guys taking holidays and just coming back and nae being fully fit. It has just been a stop start opening to the season. Everybody needs there holidays and some have to take them at certain times, that has affected us up to now but hopefully we can get August out of the way and get everybody up to full fitness rather than just having three quarters of them at full tilt.”

Few Forres fans expected it easy coming into this game and with the temperatures rising off the park it seemed that a few of the Can Cans were still on holiday mode as they struggled to get to grips with the incessant Broch youngsters during the first forty five minutes.

Graham Fraser, Craig McGovern and Kyle Scott were all handed starts at the expense of Jordan Main (unavailable), Martin McMullan (injured) and Ryan Green who dropped to the bench despite netting two from two starts.

The early pressure came from the visitors and there was a let off in the fourth minute when Scott Barbour didn’t read the intentions of Mark Cowie as the midfielder looked to set up the striker.

Barbour, who netted a hat trick last weekend, then tried his luck from 30 yards with an effort that was punched away by Stuart Knight. The Broch striker then had Knight beaten when he collected a pass from John Willox and let fly with a left footed effort which cracked back off the inside of the post.

It was proving to be a difficult afternoon for the home team and for the referee who at times was hard to distinguish from the Broch players given his grey top, black shorts and black socks. However he did his best to stand out by holding a bright yellow card high in the air a total of three times in the opening eighteen minutes as Scott Moore, Fraser Bremner and Nathan Sharp all had their names taken by the whistler.

Despite being on the back foot the Mechanics could have been in front but for an offside flag. Kyle Scott crossed the ball in from the right wing and Scott Moore nipped in ahead of Paul Leask to direct the ball into the net before taking a clattering. However his efforts were in vain.

A goal did arrive, but at the other end, as Fraserburgh took the lead in the 27th minute. Scott Barbour had been a danger throughout the first half and he took advantage of a rare mix up between the two centre halfs to waltz into the box and beat Stuart Knight with ease.

There was a let off moments later when Willie West was a whisker away from adding to his midweek hat trick with a flicked effort from a Bryan Hay cross, but the ball landed in the side netting.

Having got in at half time 1-0 down Forres looked better in the second half but they rarely looked like turning the game around. Scott Lawrie drove one just over the crossbar from 25 yards then two subs combined with Ryan Green setting up Kevin Duguid who seemed to rush his shot and failed to connect the way he would have wanted, allowing Paul Leask to save easily.

Redemption arrived in the dying stages when a long throw in from Simon Allan put the cat amongst the pigeons and Neil Main took the bait, pushing his man which lead to the award of a penalty kick. Scott Lawrie took the responsibility and duly sent the keeper the wrong way to the delight and relief of the home support.

There was to be no last gasp winner but there was a further talking point in the dying stages as sub Steven Davidson was booked twice and dismissed in injury time to leave the Broch with something to gurn about as they departed feeling a little hard done by in every sense.

Full Time: Forres Mechanics 1 Fraserburgh 1

Forres Mechanics: S Knight, S Allan, G Fraser, G Grant, N Sharp, R Macpherson (R Green 78), F Bremner (R Mackintosh 70), S Moore, S Lawrie, K Scott, C McGovern (K Duguid 70) Subs: M Davidson, S McIntosh

Scorer: S Lawrie (87 pen)

Booked: S Moore (6), F Bremner (13), N Sharp (18), G Fraser (60) Sent Off: -

Fraserburgh: P Leask, M Dickson, S Fowlie, R Christie, W West, S Barbour, B Hay, M Cowie (J Chalmers 90), J Willox (S Main 63), N Main, Z Davidson (S Davidson 85) Subs: M Fletcher, R Cowie

Scorer: S Barbour (28)

Booked: S Barbour (74), S Fowlie (79), N Main (86), S Davidson (88, 90) Sent Off: S Davidson (90)

Referee: G Beaton

Gazette Gold Star: On an afternoon where the champions failed to catch light Scott Lawrie offered the most spark and in the end held his nerve to grab a point for the Can Cans.