Brora's long running win comes to an end
BRORA Rangers surrendered their record-breaking unbeaten run when they went down 3-0 to Cove Rangers at Harlaw Park, Inverurie on Saturday.
A near unchanged Brora Rangers never really got to grips with the small tight pitch and the solid Cove Rangers defenders had little difficulty in handling the Brora frontline.
At the other end of the park, the quick Cove forwards applied pressure to a Brora defence that was given its most exacting examination of the season.
Cove took an early lead after five minutes when Jamie Watt poked home from two yards after some sloppy defending from a corner. Cove nearly added a second soon after when a Milne shot was wonderfully saved by Joe Malin.
Brora had the lion’s share of play and possession in the first half but produced few real chances. Much of their play was nicely constructed but the final ball rarely found a red shirt, with the five-man Cove defence comfortably clearing their lines. Their best chance of the half fell to Steven Mackay but his low effort was saved.
Cove held out and went into the break with a 1-0 lead after an enjoyable first half, with wayward chances and long-range efforts at both ends.
Brora started with purpose at the start of the second period and were rewarded when Martin Maclean was brought down by Walker in the penalty box.
In what was probably the turning point of the game, Zander Sutherland had his penalty saved by Stuart McKenzie, striking it low to the keeper’s right.
Cove took full advantage of their let-off and within three minutes had doubled their advantage. Mackay was dispossessed in the middle of the field by Yule who found Daryl Nicol with a long pass. He controlled the ball quickly to slot home after having cut through a square-looking Brora defence.
Richard Brittain and Paul Brindle came on to replace Martin Maclean and Dale Gillespie, but Cove had their tails up and took control of the game as Brora were pushed deeper back into their own half.
With Brora pushing to get back into it, Cove further extended their lead with a magnificent strike again from man of the match Nicol.
Mackay should have pulled one back when clear on goal but his effort summed up a poor day at the office for the Cattachs.
A rare setback for Brora and maybe there weren’t really three goals between the teams. However, Cove have signalled their intentions for the season and Brora will need to bounce back next week at Fraserburgh.
Brora have this week launched an innovative new website, brora rangers.football.
Board member William Powrie said: "We hope that our new website will meet the needs of both Brora supporters and visitors to the club.
"The site has been designed to allow quick functional access via mobile devices as well as desktops and will continue to have content and useful information added to it.
"The format is very different to other sites but I’m very confident it will be well received."
