United’s title aspirations suffered a setback on Saturday as they were overpowered by a strong Lossiemouth side at The Playing Fields, Lossiemouth.

United’s cause was not helped by some very dubious refereeing, however to blame the referee would be coating over what was a wretched performance by the league leaders.

United gave starts to Craig Ritchie and Alan Reid as work commitments ruled out Danni Buchan and David Innes, with the latter’s absence being very noticeable in a Broch defence that were all at sea in the first-half.

The Broch kicked off into a strong wind, combined with the rain, snow and heavy underfoot conditions made football almost non-existent.

Lossie’s tactics were clear from the off, get the ball forward early and United were almost caught out when a long ball from Lossie keeper McLean flew over Hay’s head and Adembi fired wide when through on Dunbar’s goal.

With United’s midfield being outmuscled chances for the away side were few and far between, despite this Watt should have scored on 15 minutes. Reid and Rollo combined to send Watt through on goal, he rounded McLean but was denied by a great block on the line by Hastie.

United received a rash of bookings from the overly officious Auburn for innocuous tackles with the perpetrators being A. Ritchie, Hay and Ross.

Lossie players were not booked similarly, Mason’s tackle from behind on Rollo, in particular, looked nasty, with the Broch midfielder requiring some treatment in the aftermath.

On 26 minutes, Lossie were awarded a soft free-kick by referee Auburn after Noble appeared to win the ball cleanly from Reynolds. Hastie stepped up to blast the ball over to United’s relief.

United retaliated with a number of efforts from distance that were continually blocked by the forest of defenders Lossie set up in front of their goal - United were struggling to test keeper McLean.

The deadlock was broken on 43 minutes when United’s Hay naively lost possession 25-yards out and Bryson immediately fed Wilson inside the box, his shot took a huge deflection off Reid and looped over Dunbar to send Lossie in at the break one up.

United suffered a further blow as Bisset was forced off at half time with a hamstring injury, replaced by Steven Lawrence.

The Broch came out for the second half with all guns blazing, quickly pinning Lossie back for the opening minutes of the half. However it was the home side that pulled further ahead on 51 minutes.

Kellas’ corner from the left saw Noble and Wilson joust for position as the ball came over, to utter Broch disbelief referee Auburn whistled and pointed to the spot. United’s captain saw yellow for his protestations.

Wilson stepped up and expertly dispatched the ball beyond Dunbar.

United continued undeterred, dominating possession and territory yet without properly threatening McLean’s goal. The Lossie keeper did earn his corn, making a great save from Lawrence’s lob on 64 minutes.

As with the first-half, United were creating shooting opportunities but Lossie were throwing bodies in front of everything and defending resolutely.

On 80 minutes United were reduced to ten men, C. Ritchie picking up another booking for a mistimed challenge on Wilson.

United continued to press but could not breach the Lossie defence and the home side recorded a fine victory.

Local man Andy Higgins has announced his intention to take part in the London Marathon this year to raise awareness and funds for local community group Kinship for Kids.

Speaking to the Fraserburgh Herald on the task facing him, Mr Higgins said:

“This is the 14th time that I’ve run the London Marathon.

“I usually do it every year to raise funds for a charity,” he added.

Kinship for Kids is a local community group for grandparents who raise their grandchildren, be it because of alcohol or drug abuse, or bereavement.

As the group is not a charity, it receives no funding, so Mr Higgins’ run at London will provide some much needed financial support for the organisation.

Similarly, the people involved with Kinship for Kids receive none of the funding that a foster carer would, nor do they have the same rights as a foster carer.

With 10 children already involved in the group, Andy Higgins is sure to have significant local support by the time the London Marathon rolls around.

Kinship for Kids plan to launch a website in the future, but for more information on the community group, please contact 07873880195 or email k4kids1@gmail.com.

One side excelled from set pieces, the other side faltered. It was the dead-ball situations that made the difference at the Bellslea as a trio of superb strikes saw Fraserburgh edge into the Semi-finals of the Aberdeenshire Shield at the expense of Buckie Thistle.

Fraserburgh began with an identical squad to the one that had dismantled Turriff United on Saturday, whereas Buckie were still reeling from their shock draw against strugglers Strathspey.

Barely five minutes had expired when Mark Chisholm saw his header from 6 yards end up the wrong side of the post from Zander Sutherland’s free-kick, a miss which would prove pivotal less than two minutes later when the ball found the net at the other end of the park. Marc Dickson’s chipped long ball matched Scott Barbour’s run, and, with no shout from his fellow defenders received, Darren Wood hesitated on making his clearance, allowing Barbour to nip in from behind him before executing a perfect lob over Kevin Main for 1-0.

However parity was soon restored for the 2007-08 winners of this competition through Paul Napier, introduced as a substitute seven minutes previous. Donnie Munro’s curling effort was kept out well by Paul Leask, but could only parry the ball back out into play and a goalmouth melee proceeded with Napier stabbing home from only yard out.

Buckie were now looking to rise into the ascendancy.

However, the complexity of the match changed with the very last kick prior to the half-time whistle.

Three minutes into stoppage time had surpassed when Dean Cowie’s free-kick was knocked out of the penalty area by Wood, but fell perfectly to Allan Hale on the half-volley, and his corker of an effort rocketed into the top corner from the edge of the penalty area.

Thistle again looked to be getting a foothold on the game after that, but a moment of what some might brand as silliness from Gary Clark saw the player be dismissed by referee Bryan Braidwood after picking up two yellow cards in as many minutes for alleged backchatting to the match official.

Fraserburgh made their one-man advantage extend to a two goal advantage almost instantaneously.

Dean Cowie sweeped the ball into the top bag from the edge of the penalty area with a cracking finish from a corner. Following that killer third goal for Fraserburgh, it looked as if it was time-up for Thistle as far as this competition was concerned, especially with the virtue of the extra man falling in Fraserburgh’s favour.

Clear-cut chances were sporadic for the Jags, and their inability of converting in front of the Broch goal saw them leave the Shield competition early this year.

Fraerburgh will now progres to the quarter finals of the Aberdeenshire Shield, playing away to either Huntly or Inverurie Loco Works next Wednesday.

Pictures provided by David Williamson.

Fraserburgh Academy’s pitch was the scene of a last-16 S4 Scottish Cup clash on Monday, with a team from Paisley making the long journey North.

With the game kicking off at lunchtime, there was a large and enthusiastic support throughout the first-half.

Some of the pupils in the crowd had got into the party spirit with a couple of Mexican waves started by Academy pupil Josh Scott.

The action on the park was equally bizarre to begin with as both teams searched for an opener.

Fraserburgh Academy goalkeeper Del Testa took a blow to the head after a mix up between his defenders before both Lumsden and Garden fired narrowly over at the other end.

The deadlock was broken after 20 minutes when a Paisley striker finished well after a neat through ball.

The Broch had not progressed this far for nothing, however, and went straight up the other end to equalise.

After a corner and a couple of headers, the ball fell to Maitland who fired in to the corner of the net for the Broch.

Fraserburgh continued to press for the remainder of the half and, despite a surging solo run by Paterson, the West coast side held on until half time.

In the second-half, the game changed with Paisley dominating the run of play.

Fraserburgh will be disappointed with how they conceded the 2-1 goal, however, with a corner deflecting off a defender leaving a tap in header for a Paisley attacker.

The game was over as a contest eight minutes from the end after a soft penalty award for the away side, allowing Paisley to defend their winning position for the final few minutes.

With Fraserburgh pouring players forward, they were unfortunate to lose another goal after a counter attack, ending the game on the wrong side of a 4-1 loss.

With Paisley’s cutting edge evident for the Academy side to see, it was fair to say that they deserved to go through in the Scottish Cup.

The three-goal margin will, nonetheless, be difficult for the Broch to contend with, given their courage to push for an equaliser late in the game.

Academy football rep Lynn Jex said after the game:

“In the last six years of school football, this team has progressed the furthest in the Scottish Cup on two occasions. The boys should hold their heads high and be proud of this remarkable achievement. They are most definitely in the top 16 teams in the country. I am proud of their excellent behaviour throughout the competition despite facing opponents who were verbally and at times physically aggressive. I would like to praise the way they respected decisions made by the referee and battled to the final minute in every game. Thanks must also be paid to their dedicated coach, James Gibb.”