LOCHEE UNITED 1-2 BRECHIN CITY
Ross McGowan’s match report sponsored by Utility Connect Scotland.
Lochee United were narrowly edged out by a quality Brechin City side in a Lowland League East nail-biter at Thomson Park this afternoon.
In a game that was every bit as close as its 3rd v 4th billing suggested, it was a Dale Hilson inspired Brechin who rallied in the second half to come from behind and return north with all three points.
With no senior football in the city this afternoon, and with word spreading of Lochee’s flying start to the season, a bumper crowd descended on Thomson Park and the Bluebells looked to give the masses something to cheer about early on as they made a positive start to the game.
Ross Fraser looked in the mood from the word go and he had a couple of early chances, first heading narrowly over the bar from a Callum Lamb cross, then beating the offside trap and stinging Brechin keeper Gourlay’s palms with a powerful shot.
But our highly fancied visitors soon began to play their way into the game and there was a scare for Lochee when Mitch Taylor capitalised on a loose defensive touch before firing just wide.
Dale Hilson was next to have a go for Brechin breaking through the inside left channel before forcing a confident save from Lewis Haldane in the Lochee goal.
Brechin were now chapping at the door and they created their best opening on the half hour mark when Darren Watson broke through the Lochee defence and squared for Mitch Taylor but Haldane was lightning quick off his line and made himself big to make a magnificent save.
But just as Brechin looked to be applying a stranglehold on the game, they were undone by a terrific Lochee move down the left when Fraser Donaldson threaded a killer pass inside the fullback to put Ruari Henry through on goal, and although Henry still had plenty left to do he held his nerve to curl a perfect shot right into the bottom corner to put Lochee 1-0 up.
Brechin tried to hit back immediately when a long throw in from the right caused an almighty stramash in the Lochee box but Greg Young’s shot was blocked by a wall of blue with Lochee’s defence putting everything on the line to get in at the interval with a one goal lead.
But as the teams emerged for the second half, Brechin had clearly had the proverbial half time rocket as they proceeded to turn the game around in 15 ruthless minutes.
Dale Hilson was the architect, holding off the attentions of the Lochee defence long enough to lay the ball off to the onrushing Ryan Blair who fired a 20 yard rocket into the top corner to square the contest at 1-1.
Then just before the hour mark Hilson engineered a lightning quick counter-attack from a Lochee corner and squared for Darren Watson to fire home from close range as the visitors turned the half time deficit into a 2-1 lead.
Lochee tried desperately to find a way back into the game and Finlay Allan went close against his old club having a low shot tipped wide by Gourlay. And from the resultant corner Connor Coupe was denied by a terrific defensive block at the back post.
With time ticking away Lochee continued to apply pressure and there were late headed opportunities for both Ross Clark and Paul Scobie but in the end the Brechin defence held firm to claim the victory.
2-1 it finished and whilst Lochee took no points from the match there were no shortage of positives to be gleaned from a highly creditable performance against one of the Lowland League East favourites.
It was only a year ago that Lochee were completely outclassed against Brechin in the Scottish Cup but today was no such mismatch and the way Lochee competed this afternoon is a testament to the vast improvement that has occurred over the last 12 months.
It was also fantastic to see such a big crowd turning up and creating a real buzz around the ground – we hope to see you all back again as we continue to try and build something special here.
Credit to Brechin on a game well played and in particular Dale Hilson who was the difference between the two teams in the final third of the park today.
There were plenty of candidates for man of the match today with Lewis Haldane in particular putting on a strong display in the Lochee goal. But he was beaten to the award by Louis Joyce who put in a captain’s performance at centre-half leading the Lochee resistance against a highly talented Brechin attack.
We now embark on a tough run of three consecutive away games starting with a trip to West Lothian on Tuesday evening for a Lowland League East matchup against Bo’ness United.
As always – COME ON THE CHEE!!!
