(05/10/2022 – BREEDON HIGHLAND LEAGUE – GRANT PARK, LOSSIEMOUTH)
LOSSIEMOUTH landed all three points against KEITH to move up to eleventh in the Breedon Highland League table. The Coasters scored twice without conceding against the struggling Maroons for the second year in a row, with Liam Archibald and Fraser Forbes finding the net while Logan Ross kept a clean sheet to deny the visitors as much as a consolation.
Lossie were without the services of Dean Stewart (unavailable) and Michael Weir (injury) but started with a strong eleven and had Adam Macleod, Scott Miller and Ryan Stuart all present on the bench. Keith were with regular goalkeeper Craig Reid and started with Kyle Irvine in goal, and arrived at Grant Park on the back of a defeat at Deveronvale on the weekend.
On a crisp evening under the bright Grant Park lights, Keith looked a pacy side but struggled to use their speed constructively as Lossie found their feet in the opening stages, with the hosts spending spells of the first half penned in as the visitors kept on coming. Logan Ross was in no mood for conceding and Matthew Tough was the first to be denied by the young goalkeeper early in the opening period.
Lossie’s attempts to get downfield were continually thwarted by a solid Keith defence, with anything sent high towards the box headed away and directed back into the middle of the park where the two sides were happy to go at each other. Kieran Mooney and Tom Andrews had chances for Keith but failed to test Ross, while a Keith attack was broken down by a sliding clearance from James Leslie, sending the ball into the crowd and almost knocking a chilly labrador off her paws.
The half ended goalless but not for a lack of trying form Keith. Stewart Hutcheon got his head to a corner and sent Ross flying across goal to palm away with his left hand a ball bound for the back of the net.
HALF TIME – LOSSIEMOUTH 0-0 KEITH
Lossie upset their guests with the opening goal two minutes into the second half. An attempted clearance from Keith’s Rhys Thomas rattled the shins of Liam Archibald and flew back towards the Keith goal, the ball sailing into the bottom corner of the net beyond the despairing arm of Irvine.
The goal did a fine job of demoralising the visitors, who had played their part in the game in the first half but knew coming from behind at Grant Park would be a challenge against Lossie. A procession of subs did nothing for the pace of the game which only occasionally burst into life, mostly with Lossie careering down the wing while Keith continued to force their way through the middle, both without much success.
Seven minutes from time, Lossie wrapped up the points. Ryan Stuart swept in a cross from the shedside touchline and Fraser Forbes found himself completely unmarked on his way to meeting the ball in mid-air, sending a looping header over Irvine and into the net just under the bar.
The win hoisted Lossie above Keith in the table and within sight of a place in the top half of the table, while the Kynoch Park side sit fourteenth. Lossie now head on a run of away games, starting with a trip to Turriff United on Saturday ahead of a long jaunt to Clachnacuddin the following weekend.
FULL TIME – LOSSIEMOUTH 2-0 KEITH
TEAMS:
LOSSIEMOUTH – Logan Ross; Ryan Farquhar, James Leslie, Lewis Mcandrew, Jared Kennedy (Ryan O’Halloran (81)), Liam Archibald, Niall Kennedy, Ross Morrison, Ross Archibald (Ryan Stuart (68)), Fraser Forbes, Baylee Campbell (Adam Macleod (75)); UNUSED SUBS – Scott Miller, Jack Macarthur, Stephen Woodhouse
KEITH – Kyle Irvine; Stewart Hutcheon, Joseph Wilson, Rhys Thomas (Lewis Coull (81)), Ryan Robertson, Demilade Yunus, Luke Emmet (Michael Ironside (68)), James Brownie, Kieran Mooney, Matthew Tough, Tom Andrews (Przemyslaw Nawrocki (77)); UNUSED SUBS – Connor Grant, Nizam Abdulkarim, Connor Killoh, Liam Duncan
GOALS:
LOSSIEMOUTH – Liam Archibald (47), Fraser Forbes (83)
OFFICIALS:
Kevin Buchanan, Megan Mackay, Robert Mackinnon