Win over Strathspey thoroughly deserved
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Strathspey Thistle 2 Forres Mechanics 4
A TWO goal flurry from Strathspey Thistle may have given the Can Cans fans a fright on Saturday but in the end Forres Mechanics clinched all three points from their trip to Grantown; an outcome that manager Charlie Rowley felt should never have been in doubt.
The Can Cans boss felt his team could have doubled their goals tally on the afternoon and suggested that anything other than an away win would have been a travesty. Talking to the Gazette he explained, “It was a thoroughly deserved win.
“We should have been out of sight long before they scored. Even when we were three nil up we felt should have had a few more goals of a lead. Strathspey played well for the first 20 minutes, they worked hard, but after the first goal went in it was a dominant performance from us.
“Had we been more clinical it would have been a good bit more than 3-0. I did feel a wee bit nervous when it was 3-2 and we missed a penalty because you think is it going to be that sort of day but really I didn’t expect them to get a third goal and we were still creating chance after chance.
“At 3-2 Lee Fraser had a chance and Graham Fraser could have had a hat trick of headers. In the end we got the reward with the second penalty wrapping things up and really it would have been an injustice if we had not left with the three points.”
The two goal response from Strathspey came shortly after the Mechanics took off Stuart Knight and Graeme Grant, but Rowley felt that didn’t have a bearing on the goals themselves.
“It was always in our plans, as long as I felt we were comfortable, that Knighty would come off and Sean (McIntosh) would get a run out. With Grapies about to serve a two game suspension it was also a chance to get Steven Fraser and Nathan Sharp together. Everything was going swimmingly then they scored from a corner where Sean got a wee nudge when he was going for the ball then they added a second goal that was blatantly offside.
“The linesman put his flag up and told the referee it was offside but the referee gave the decision of a goal and that made it 3-2 so it was little things that were outwith our control, but on the whole we never looked out of control of the match itself.”
Outgoing Highland League champions left Seafield Park on Saturday with the points as Charlie Rowley’s team ran out 4-2 winners but only after Strathspey Thistle mounted a spirited late comeback. Forres Mechanics were without Kyle Scott for the first time since their last outing to Grantown on 8th August 2012. As a result, the travelling support were treated to the first sighting of a much anticipated three pronged strike force as Scott Lawrie, Ross Archibald and Lee Fraser lined up together.
The home side nearly took the lead after just five minutes. A free kick from Scott Hendry three yards in from the right hand touchline was met by the head of Allen Mackenzie from 10 yards but the Jags’ top scorer was denied his sixth goal of the season by the fingertips of Stuart Knight. Sadly, that was as good as the afternoon got for the number 10 as a late tackle by Martin McMullan saw the visitors midfielder cautioned on nineteen minutes and Mackenzie was replaced by Jordan Wardrope.
Forres broke the deadlock on the 28th minute when Nathan Sharp passed the ball to auxillary left back, Craig McGovern. “Gov”, playing his 24th consecutive game for the Can-Cans, ran unopposed to the goal line and his cross was neatly dummied by Archibald for Lawrie to slot home.
Before the Jags could regroup they found themselves trailing by two. Nathan Sharp stooped to head a Scott Lawrie corner goal wards but the centre half was denied as Strathspey’s David Ritchie cleared the ball off the line. The ball eventually broke to Ross Archibald and the former Lossiemouth striker saw his 18 yard shot fly into the top left hand corner for his ninth goal in Forres colours.
The visitors came out in the second half looking to add to their goal tally and Strathspey feared a repeat of last season’s scoreline when Mechanics won 7-1 en route to the title. Indeed, Jags manager Bruce Ritchie pointed out in his programme notes that the Forres performance last March was the greatest seen by an away side since the Jags entered the Highland League in 2009.
Having seen his strike partners both score, Lee Fraser was chomping at the bit to get his name on the score sheet. Some neat play with Scott Moore saw the Forres number 9 burst forward after 51 minutes and after some quick footwork his shot from the edge of the area narrowly passed Cameron Dudgeon’s left hand post. Moore himself shot past the same upright three minutes later in what was increasingly becoming a one sided affair.
David Ross and Mark MacDonald were both booked in quick succession as the home side became frustrated as Forres saught a game clinching third goal. On fifty eight minutes a pass from Ross MacPherson saw Lee Fraser burst down the right hand side. His cross was diverted by Archibald from four yards out but blocked by the grounded Dudgeon only as far as Scott Lawrie. With the goal at his mercy, the Can-Cans hitman inexplicably fired over the bar from no more than six yards out. As fate would have it, the home goalkeeper scuffed the ball to Lawrie and he slid the ball through to Lee Fraser. One on one opportunities are food and drink to the Forres number nine and he slotted the ball under the advancing Dudgeon to give Forres a three goal advantage with just over half an hour left on the clock.
Graham Fraser twice came close to scoring as he found himself unmarked from a Lawrie cross after 63 minutes and four minutes later the Forres number 2 saw his header from an Archibald cross cleared off the line by David Ritchie
Both sides made substitutions before and after the seventy minute mark as Mateusz Bobrowski replaced Jamie Sutherland for the Jags and Sean McIntosh came on for his Mechanics debut, having patiently sat on the bench for 17 out of 35 Mechanics matches this season. Forres Mechanics Supporters’ Player of the Year, Graeme Grant, was also withdrawn for Steven Fraser.
With fifteen minutes left, a Strathspey corner wasn’t dealt with by the new look Can-Cans defence and after Archibald cleared the initial shot from Wardrope off of the line, Bobrowski scored his fourth goal against Mechanics. The goal gave the Jags some renewed belief and just as the visitors had done in the first half, Strathspey were quick to score a second goal within five minutes. A hopeful ball forward by Mark McKernie was flicked on by Ross MacPherson to the advancing Terry Swinton. With the far-side assistant raising his flag, Swinton drove towards goal and passed to James McShane to score his first goal of the season and set up a grandstand last ten minutes but not before referee Martin Kerrigan highlighted to his assistant that the last touch forward had come from a visiting player.
Forres were jolted back into life and another Scott Lawrie corner after eighty four minutes saw another Graham Fraser sail over the bar. Two minutes later, Forres had the chance to end all home hopes of point as a Scott Lawrie corner was about to be chested down by Scott Moore only for Scott Hendry’s boot to waft dangerously close to the Forres winger’s forehead. Scott Lawrie took the resulting spot kick and struck the penalty as well as he had struck all eight previously successful penalties this season. However, Cameron Dudgeon dived to his left and his raised left hand palmed the ball away to safety.
Two minutes into stoppage time Lee Fraser chased a long ball forward and as he tried to dink the ball over Hendry in order to unleash a shot, the raised arm of the Strathspey defender prevented Lee from drilling his fifth goal of the season. With the visiting faithful shouting for Lee to take the penalty himself, Scott Lawrie looked to atone for his earlier effort. This time Lawrie struck the ball cleanly to the goalkeeper’s right but once again Dudgeon guessed correctly. Alas, Lady Luck deserted the keeper and as all penalty takers should, Lawrie followed up his shot and proved more lethal from 5 yards than from 12 in what was the final kick of the game
Strathspey Thistle: C Dudgeon, N Mochan, D Ritchie, S Hendry, M McKernie, J McShane, D Ross, T Swinton, A Mackenzie (J Wardrope 26), J Sutherland (M Bobrowski 68), M Macdonald (D Thomas 90) Subs: G Chisholm, W Ridgers
Scorers: M Bobrowski (75), J McShane (80)
Booked: T Swinton (41), D Ross (55), M Macdonald (57), M McKernie (81) S Hendry (90) Sent Off: -
Forres Mechanics: S Knight (S McIntosh 65), G Fraser, C McGovern, G Grant (S Fraser 71), N Sharp, R Macpherson, R Archibald, M McMullan, L Fraser, S Lawrie, S Moore Subs: R Mackintosh, A Howard, C Brown
Scorers: S Lawrie (28, 90), R Archibald (32), L Fraser (59)
Booked: M McMullan (19), R Macpherson (22), G Grant (65), S Moore (78) Sent Off: -
Referee: M Kerrigan
Gazette Gold Star: Ross Macpherson was back to his best in the middle of the park and his commanding performance underlined what an important player he is.
