Lossie welcomed Forres Mechanics to Grant Park this weekend for the Moray derby, with revenge on the menu after their recent North of Scotland Cup defeat to the Brown and Yellows, but it was the visitors who took all three points with goals from Scott Matheson and Hamish Munro after going behind to a goal from Steven Dixon.

The game kicked off late, presumably as Gordon Winton ensured his team was actually HIS team, and was further delayed as the teams went through a minutes silence for the RAF personnel recently killed in Afghanistan.

Lossie started quickly, with the pace of Middleton and Muir showing up the Forres defence. In the first five minutes McDonald had to be precise in the tackle on the edge of the box to stop Muir getting in a shot, and the youngster had the ball in the net minutes later after lobbing Taylor, only for his effort to be ruled offside.

The first half belonged to two players – Darren McConnachie and Charlie Brown. The Lossie netminder was once again in inspirational form, keeping out anything and everything Forres could throw at him. Veteran striker Charlie Brown was doing his best to get one past Mini, but despite a half dozen shots on target, a free header in the six yard box and two one on ones, Brown could not open the scoring.

Half time – Lossiemouth 0 Forres Mechanics 0

Lossie restarted the second half with one change, Kyle Stewart replacing David Muir at the interval who then worryingly limped around the park to the dugout.

The home side went ahead just before the hour. Gavin Middleton swung a perfect corner into the box and Steven DIXON was free to head home past a hapless Taylor, who got himself booked for arguing over something only he had seen in the build up.

Desperate times called for desperate measures and Forres called on the services of Shaun Scott from the bench. With his record of scoring against Lossie, things might have taken a turn for the worst as he lashed a shot away with his first touch, but it ended up closer to the canal than the goal.

The visitors levelled in suspicious circumstances ten minutes later. Shaun Scott and Marc Whyte tussled in the box only for the former Coaster to quickly hit the deck and a penalty was awarded. Scott MATHESON stepped up to right foot home the equaliser.

As in previous games, Lossie failed to take the goal in their stride and moments later fell behind. Hamish MUNRO danced his way through the Lossie half unchallenged and rifled Forres into the lead.

Lossie continued to press for more goals, seeing plenty of weak links in the Forres rearguard. Martin McMullan had the best chance of the half, but despite playing the offside trap beautifully and racing clear, his shot dribbled inches wide of the far post. The continual gamesmanship of Forres dragged the game out, with McDonald sitting down in the middle of the park and requiring treatment, and Taylors attempt to get McMullan spoken to by the referee which was hilariously pathetic.

The game finished in controversial circumstances when, after a Lossie attack was cleared, Taylor and Rogers tangled with McIntosh in the box, with the Coaster reacting angrily after being hit in the head. McIntosh was ordered from the field while Rogers was surprisingly allowed to carry on. Quite how the referee came to his decision is unclear, as he wasn’t even looking in the direction of the incident at the time. 

Half time – Lossiemouth 1 Forres Mechanics 2

Team