Lossiemouth FC Match Reports - 07-Aug-2004 - Forres Mechanics v Lossiemouth

Report by Chris Souter

First Half.

It was a bright start for Lossie, but Forres looked very dangerous also - so it was clear that we were going to be in for an exciting game on a Mosset Park pitch that was as near perfect as you could ever hope.

It was Lossie that were rewarded first as, much to the delight of the visiting Lossie support, Shalliker latched onto a loose Dunn clearance to control and volley the ball past the Forres keeper. Brilliant goal and the Lossie support were full of hope!

Ten minutes later our hearts were in our mouths as Dunn gave away a soft, but technically correct, penalty after stopping Matheson in his path on the far left of the box. The resulting kick by Brown was well saved by Dunn though as he dived perfectly to the right to block the shot. With a goal up, and a saved penalty, the Lossie support began to believe it was going to be a great start to the season.

Forres had other ideas however and came more and more into the game as the first half wore on and had a couple of close chances before Brown was able to side foot the ball into the net from close range after a run down the right wing by Matheson just after the half-hour mark.

Five minutes or so later it was 2-1 to Forres as Rowley got onto a dangerous ball in the centre of the penalty box and slotted the ball to Dunn's left.

Still Forres' dominance continued and the half-time whistle was greeted with relief as things were not going our way at all after such a promising start.

Half-time: Forres 2-1 Lossie

Second half.

The second half started off just as the first half had finished and the Forres possession finally paid further dividends 10 minutes into the half when Lossie conceded two quick goals in succession: the first of which was a header by Green and then a brilliant goal from Brown seemed to wrap things up for Forres with still almost 35 minutes to play - and the Lossie support were beginning to wonder how many more goals would go in.

All credit to Lossie though as we then worked to get ourselves back in the game, showing brilliant attitude and not letting heads go down.

With about 20 minutes to go we got the breakthrough to pull the scoreline back to 4-2 when substitute Hendry picked up a spilled save from a Caulfield shot and drilled the ball past Rae.

Lossie continued to dominate the closing stages and there was a certain belief that we could make it a "glorious" 4-3 defeat or even steal a 4-4 draw if very lucky. On the pitch, Scott certainly seemed to believe this and he was unlucky not to score on a couple of occasions - including a header from a corner onto the crossbar

However, we were to be hit with a goal against the run of play right at the end when a clearance from a corner found Brown - who took on and beat Youngson (ignoring the opportunity to pass to Green) and ran onto to slot the ball past Dunn and kill off any lingering Lossie hopes and finish the game.

FINAL SCORE: FORRES MECHANICS 5-2 LOSSIEMOUTH