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Points squandered by the Broch
A late leveller from Alistair McLeod granted Brora an unexpected point at Bellslea Park for the first time since 1997.
There was more bad news as Graham Johnston was sent off for the second time this season as Fraserburgh suffered somewhat of a midweek hangover following their defeat by Buckie, leaving them without a win in three games.
Fraserburgh reshuffled their side from the midweek 'Shire Cup loss as Weymss, Morrice and young Andrew Downie were brought it, while Brora made just the two changes from their reversal to Formartine last weekend.
This was a game which, on paper, Fraserburgh were expected to win comfortably, but a lack of chances within the first half didn't help their cause. Their only real opening in the first half was after eight minutes when Graham Johnston had a header blocked by Sean Munro on the line.
Brora had set themselves out in a more adventurous style than normal with Scott Begg doing most of the work from midfield and Nigel McKenzie holding the ball up in the final third waiting for support.
Even by the midway point in the first half the match had downgraded into a rather dull affair - Fraserburgh deciding to add a little more pressure towards the end of the half, but nothing too threatening towards their visitors, while at the same time not making full use of the wide areas which they could have used to their advantage more.
Just before half-time, Ronald Jones had an opportunity to open the scoring for the afternoon. He fed off a high ball and feinted a shot to the left to shimmy by Neil Main, but Paul Leask in the Fraserburgh goal spread himself well to block the effort.
A half-time team talk must have done the Broch some good as they came out at the start of the second half with all guns blazing.
Allan Hale was the architect for a couple of chances within the first few moments. Firstly, his run down the right presented his brother Robert Morrice with an opportunity but he sidefooted wide. Then from a similar position just a minute later, Hale opted to cut inside on this occasion and cracked an effort of the foot of the post.
Graham Johnston has had a promising start to the season, however he should have added to that tally on 56 minutes after substitute William West had carved an opening for Johnston, but with only Steven Martin to beat, 'Gizzy' slipped and his effort rebounded off the Brora keeper.
It looked as if the game was going to end goalless until 15 minutes from the end when a fine move from Fraserburgh gave them a lead that had only partly been deserved up until that point. West's cutback from the byline was missed by Hale, Garden picked up the ball at the back post and set up Graham Johnston, who rifled home from the edge of the box.
Another free-flowing move from Brora almost led them towards an equaliser a minute after conceding at the other end. Scott McKain's pass found Daniel McKay who took the ball round Leask, but the difficult angle didn't do much for him and he could only put the ball into the side netting.
Heading into a late stage of the game, the result was still open to interpretation as it seemed there was still goals left in the short time remaining. The Fraserburgh fans rightly became restless with frustration at the manner in which their team had not been able to establish a larger margin of lead against their Highland opponents, who came a matter of inches away from securing a point with five minutes left as Alexander McDonald's dangerous ball flashed across goal, and Begg couldn't get there in time to get on the end of it.
Having a man sent off is almost always seen as a disadvantage and this proved correct as Graham Johnston was shown his second red card of the season for the same offence as he was dismissed against Turriff, by foolishly arguing with the officials.
And it may have cost the Broch oh so dearly. Brora won a corner on the right in the inauguration of injury-time, a lapse in concentration left the defence strangely unorganised and Ally McLeod's glancing header at the front post rescued a point for the Dudgeon Park side, keeping them above a out-of-sorts Fraserburgh side in the race for the title.
Fraserburgh: Leask, Downie (Elrick 87), McBride, Hay, Neil Main, Weymss (West 52), Ralph, Beagrie, Morrice (Garden 65), Johnston, Hale. Unused Subs: Gordon, Conway.
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Weather for Fraserburgh
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 11 C to 15 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 10 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: East
