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back away wins saw Fort William leapfrog Wick Academy and Lossiemouth to
claim thirteenth spot tonight as a battling performance and the required
rub of the green saw them edge past Lossiemouth in a turgid affair.
It was the visitors who took the lead in the 18th minute of this game when
Angus LAWRIE ran free of his marker and when the ball came to him
on the edge of the box he let fly with an effort that struck Steven Dixon,
completely wrong footing Michael Rae, and rolled into the back of the net.
However Lossie struck straight back with a goal just two minutes later.
Steven Rattray and Gary Youngson combined on the left and got the ball to
Craig MORRISON who beat three players on a run across the edge of
the box before firing a 25 yard strike into the top corner of the net.
There was little in the way of goalmouth action as the half progressed
with neither team showing the composure on the ball necessary to turn good
positions in to goals.
Half
time – Lossiemouth 1 Fort William 1
Lossie
came out at the start of the second half looking to string a few passes
together and after a couple of more promising early moves Craig Morrison
played Mark Sanderson in on goals but from 14 yards his first time shot
was straight at Willie Ridgers who made the save.
Lossie had the ball in the back of the net but it became their third
disallowed goal in two weeks. After an interchange involving Steven
Rattray and Kyle Stewart the midfielder dinked a ball over the defence for
Craig Morrison who slotted home only for the linesmans flag to call a halt
to the celebrations.
Morrison was to be denied twice by keeper Willie Ridgers with shots from a
tight angle when Kyle Stewart, who had done well to create the opening,
was screaming for the cut back which would have given the teenager a clear
sight of goal.
The crucial moment was to come in the 67th minute of the game as Lossie
lost possession on the left wing and when the long clearance ran through
to Mike Rae he failed to get a proper purchase on his attempted left
footed hoof up the park and it fell to Fort. Mark Dougal then tried to
manoeuvre a shooting opportunity before Rae returned to his line and as he
went past Steve Dixon he was felled inside the area. Mo MACMILLAN
stepped up to make an immaculate job with the spot kick, picking out the
top right hand corner of the net.
Lossie sounded the cavalry charge immediately with two strikers replacing
a midfielder and a defender. With the game stretched it was Forts
dominance in the air that began to tell as they won more than their fair
share and with Lossie pushing forward the Coasters were vulnerable to the
counter attack.
Incredibly an inability to work out the offside trap saw Fort caught nine
times in the last twenty minutes of the game. Their bench must have been
thinking a little common sense would have seen them kill off this match at
that stage.
With little space in the final third there was only one chance produced by
the home side. Craig Morrisons low shot come cross looked certain to be
knocked in at the back post by Sam Wormald but as he connected with the
ball on the slide he was clattered into the post by the defender sliding
in from behind getting the man not the ball. Incredibly neither a penalty
or goal kick was awarded with a corner being given to the frustration of
both teams.
In the end Fort dug in, battled hard and held on to claim the three points
that move them up two places in the Scot Ads HFL table.
Full
time –
Lossiemouth 1 Nairn County 2
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