An injury time goal from Darren McConnachie rescued a point for Lossie at a grim Mosset Park in a game the Coasters really should have won. Despite having the better of the first half, Lossie went into the break two goals down, but rallied to pull one back through Martin McMullen, before Mini scored his second in three games to save the day.

The fixture continues to lay claim to the title of most in-bred in the league, with former Lossie players Simon Allan, Gary Youngson and Jordan Main all featuring on the Forres team sheet. Scott Matheson, formerly of both clubs, was missing due to work commitments, but Lossie retained the services of Martin McMullen and Graham Wilson.

Lossie made easy work of keeping Forres at bay early on. With no Charlie Brown, and Ryan Green benched ahead of cup duty next weekend, the Can Can’s looked particularly blunt, with McConnachie, Urquhart and Kevin Stuart keeping an orderly house at the back. At the other end of the pitch, real chances were restricted to a Graham Wilson free kick from long range, which was scuffed wide. Darren Watson was having some success with crosses from the wing, but Lossie could not find the finishing touch. Fraser Bremner did his best to put Lossie ahead with an own goal, but Stuart Knight was on hand to palm the ball wide.

The home side took an undeserved lead mid way through the half, taking advantage of some careless defending from Lossie. A corner from Kevin Collins’ was headed on by man mountain Nathan Sharp, and Iain PENWRIGHT was on hand to fire home from close range.

Minutes later Forres doubled their advantage through former Elgin City, Deveronvale and Downtown USA man Fraser BREMNER, who hit an acrobatic right foot volley past a stationary McConnachie. The quality of the goal was tarnished somewhat by the laughable goal celebration which immediately followed, one which resembled the set-piece performed by Lee Sharpe in the mid 90’s, only this time done by a drunk.

Half time – Forres Mechanics 2 Lossiemouth 0

Lossie saw the game was far from finished and threw on Matthew Huckins in place of Graham Wilson to add some pace down the wing, and the ploy worked, with Huckins beating everyone for pace. It took only five minutes of harassment from Lossie for Forres to capitulate, and Martin MCMULLEN started the comeback with a smart finish past Knight. The former Elgin City man could have levelled just short of the hour after getting into a similar shooting position, but Nathan Sharp was quicker to react, sending the shot wide for a corner.

Forres could have gone two ahead for the second time in the game through Bremner, but his hopeful, curling shot went wide of the post.

With just fifteen minutes to go, Forres found themselves in real trouble. Jamie Bagley sprinted through on the Forres goal with only Knight to beat, but the keeper decided the youngster was going nowhere and ran straight through him, leaving the youngster in a heap outside the area. Referee Cammy McKay reached for the red card, despite the hopeful protestations of the Forres players, and the home side looked to their bench for the substitute goalkeeper.

Bizarrely, Forres didn’t have one, so Kenny Hendry pulled on the mittens for the remainder of the game. The set piece awarded to Lossie due to the foul was wasted, but Hendry showed he was at least going to make the effort while in his new position, stopping and holding a rasping shot from McMullen soon after.

With Lossie still pushing high up the park, Hendry launched the ball downfield to a wide open Scott Moore, who had time to compose himself while bearing down on goal with only McConnachie to beat. With the goal, and game, at his mercy, Moore seemed to scuff his effort towards Mini’s far post, and the Lossie keeper pushed it wide.

Into injury time, with Lossie still pressing, and the visitors win a corner following a free kick that saw everyone pushed forward. Carefully taken by one of the McGregor twins, Darren MCCONNACHIE was on hand to provide a sensational finish, scoring with his head to make headlines once again. The keeper made up for his lack of celebration following his goal at Fraserburgh by sitting on the crossbar at full time, which occurred moments after his goal. 

Full time – Forres Mechanics 2 Lossiemouth 2

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