Brora Rangers boss Steven Mackay hailed his side for passing a big test as they got the better of Fraserburgh to continue their fine start to the season.
Following an enthralling 90 minutes the Cattachs prevailed 3-2 at Bellslea to make it eight wins out of nine in the Breedon Highland League.
Mackay wants his charges to be challenging for the title and reckons even at this stage of the season results like this one can be crucial.
This was Brora’s first league triumph against the Broch since February 2020.
Mackay said: “You need to win these games if you want to compete and we’ve not hidden the fact we want to compete for the title this season.
“That’s our aim and in order to do that you need to come to places like Fraserburgh and not lose, or preferably win.
“We’ve done that and it’s one thing we can tick off, we’ve had a solid enough start and this felt like a really big test for us.
“We’ve had some tough games at home, but here we were coming to one of the toughest venues.
“It was a test for us and I’m really happy with the performance overall.
“We said it had been a while since we’d come to Bellslea and won, the last time we did it we went on to win the title so that’s a good omen for us.”
Dismissal ‘hard to explain’
Following the full-time whistle Mackay was shown a red card by referee Scott Donohoe in bizarre circumstances after having a conversation with some Brora supporters beside the dugouts.
Mackay added: “At the end I went to speak to our fans because I think a couple of them didn’t behave in the right manner during the game.
“I was having a conversation with them and I turned around and had a red card. It’s hard to explain what that was for and it’s incredibly frustrating.
“I hate coming out after games and being critical of officials, but his performance was poor.”
Match action
Brora took the lead in the eighth minute. Tony Dingwall’s free-kick from the left into a crowded penalty area wasn’t gathered by goalkeeper Andy Reid and the ball hit Broch defender Bryan Hay on its way into the net.
Fraserburgh responded with an equaliser just after the half hour mark. Joshua Hawkins pinpoint pass released Scott Barbour on the left side of the box and he made no mistake.
In the 35th minute Brora could have regained the lead when Reid spilled Tom Kelly’s 20-yarder, but Jordan MacRae shot into the goalkeeper’s hands on the follow up.
Two minutes later the Cattachs did score. Max Ewan crossed from the right, Paul Young’s attempted clearance rebounded off team-mate Kieran Simpson and Dingwall capitalised by scoring from close range.
MacRae headed inches wide on 64 minutes after Dingwall dispossessed Simpson on the right flank.
At the other end Logan Watt blasted a shot over from 15 yards after good set-up work by Connor Wood.
The Cattachs’ third goal in the 81st minute looked to have sealed their victory.
Sub James Wallace turned neatly and his snap-shot from the edge of the area evaded Reid and went in off the left post.
But in the 90th minute the Broch got their second – sub Sean Butcher heading home Liam Strachan’s free-kick from the left – to set up a grandstand finish in stoppage time.
Brora’s George Robesten latched onto Millar Gamble’s ball into box and cracked a shot against the right post.
For the Broch Simpson’s knockdown teed up Barbour, goalkeeper Cammy Mackay made a great save and Butcher hit the outside of the right post with the rebound.
In the fifth minute of added time Strachan hammered an effort against the same upright with only Mackay to beat.
Broch boss rues mistakes
Fraserburgh are 12 points off the top of the table after nine games.
Manager Mark Cowie said: “I don’t think there was much between the two sides. The third goal killed us, we were starting to get a foothold and looking for the equaliser.
“We’d changed the shape a couple of minutes before and it kills the gameplan a bit.
“That being said we got the second goal and then we had a couple of chances to equalise.
“You could argue we deserved something out of it, but the goals we lost from our point of view were three mistakes.
“We shot ourselves in the foot a bit, Brora didn’t have to work hard for them, although they had other opportunities.
“I’m not too disheartened, we’ve played worse and won. But we need to do a lot of things better and take more ownership as a group to get results.
“We should create more, I think you need to be brave in these games.
“Brora are a really good side who’ve got dangerous players, but so have we.
“I think we were more worried about stopping them and making sure we had boys covering rather than getting up the park.
“The league position is what it is, we’re there because of our performances.”