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Goalkeeper Zack Ellis headed home Paul Coutts’ corner deep into stoppage time to secure a point from a fantastic game at Harlaw Park. It was a third equaliser for Locos and was a thrilling end to a match that Dean Donaldson described as “a great advert for the Highland League”.
Donaldson picked an unchanged team from the one that performed so well in beating Brechin City in midweek. The visitors were quickest out of the blocks, with Logan Watt firing over inside two minutes. Locos settled though, and were looking the more threatening of the two teams when the Broch opened the scoring midway through the first half. Willie West’s cross from the left was cleared as far as Ross Aitken whose half volley squeezed past Ellis.
Mark Souter levelled things up 10 minutes before the break, rising highest to meet Coutts’ corner from the right, his header possibly helped into the net by a deflection.
In the second half both teams continued with their attacking approach and Fraserburgh regained the lead as record gaol scorer Scott Barbour wriggled free of Blair Smith before firing into the top corner from 18 yards. This time the lead lasted just a few minutes as Locos produced another fine goal to get back on level terms. Josh Bolton, playing against his former club, showed good touch to control Callum Duncan’s ball forward, before returning the ball to Duncan down the right. His first time cross was smashed home on the volley by Daniel Agnew, on for Cole Anderson who picked up a concerning injury with the last action of the first half. Agnew then looked to put Locos ahead, but his effort was well blocked by Kieran Simpson.
Agnew tried his luck again but couldn’t hit the target, before Ellis denied Watt with a superb save. Watt did get his goal though, when he latched onto West’s header to fire his side into the lead for a third time with a little over 20 minutes remaining.
Locos pushed for another leveller but, despite getting into some promising positions, were struggling to test Joe Barbour in the Fraserburgh goal. Five minutes from time, Sean Butcher had a chance to kill the game but was denied by a brilliant last ditch block by Jay Halliday, setting the stage for Ellis’s heroics.
This was another hugely entertaining game in which the teams showed positive intent from the outset. They would probably both feel that a draw was a fair result, although the Broch will be disappointed to concede such a late goal.
This result means that Locos winning run ends at nine games – our best ever in the Highland League – but the goalkeeper’s intervention means that they remain undefeated since January 18th and have dropped just five points since the turn of the year.
Once again, Deano was very happy with his players. “It must have been great for the neutrals. It was a game played at full pace and I’m absolutely delighted with how our boys played” he said. “You run out of words for them sometimes, because this season they’ve kept going and kept going. 10 games unbeaten is not to be sniffed at”.
Locos make the short trip to Huntly next week.
