Turriff visited a sunny Grant Park for the first time as a senior side this weekend and left with all three points, following a poor display from Lossie. Despite having the bulk of possession in the first half, Lossie reached the interval a goal down, courtesy of a Craig Morrison penalty. Morrison secured all three points a minute after Nikki Smith had equalised for Lossie, and the Coasters were left to rue what might have been.

Lossie were looking to make it three wins in a row following defeats of Newton Stewart and Strathspey Thistle, and had the personnel to do so. Shawn Scott and John Urquhart returned from suspension, while only Martin McMullan was absent. Craig Donaldson was up against his old club, as was Craig Morrison.

Turriff went into the game following poor results against North clubs, and directly on the back of a shock 2-1 defeat at home to Fort William. The visitors looked poor in the opening stages, and it looked to be only a matter of time before a confident Lossie side opened the scoring. As early as the ninth minute Shawn Scott found himself with a clear shot on goal, only to be flagged for offside. Midway through the half, Biscuits slid a ball across the face of goal, past a diving Buchanan and just out of reach of Sean McIntosh who arrived at the back post seconds late.

Lossie continued to press Turriff back into their own penalty area, with corners posing a particular problem for the HFL new boys. With Scott Matheson attacking through the middle with the options of Shawn Scott and Sean McIntosh up front, Lossie very much looked like they would make fools of bookies who had offered a price of 3/1 on a home win.

As the half drew to a close, Lossie were forced onto the defensive and Craig Morrison caused havoc on his old stamping ground. Steven Sim wrestled the former Lossie player to the ground inside the area, and a penalty was awarded. Craig MORRISON stepped up to right foot the ball home from twelve yards and give the guests an unexpected half time lead.

Half time – Lossiemouth 0 Turriff United 1

The way Turriff took to the second half made you think there had been some harsh words from the management at half time, while Lossie carried on where they had left off. Charlie Charlesworth decided to freshen things up at the front by replacing Sean McIntosh with Nikki Smith, but plans were hampered following the forced substitution of Dan Smith, once again injured by a meaty challenge right under the nose of an uninterested referee Thomas Shaw.

Half time sub Nikki Smith hauled Lossie back into the game with twenty minutes to go. A long punt downfield was volleyed spectacularly by SMITH across the face of goal, past Buchanan and in at the far post.

Before Lossie had time to consider that all that was needed in the following minutes was to retain possession and avoid any careless errors, Turriff were ahead once again. An attack down the left saw the ball played to Andrew Hutchinson, who crossed low into the area where Craig MORRISON met the ball right footed at the near post to give Chris Stuart no chance.

Full time – Lossiemouth 1 Turriff United 2

Teams

Lossiemouth - Chris Stuart: Craig Donaldson, Sam Milton, Steven Sim, Dan Smith, John Urquhart, Tony Ross, Scott Matheson, Shawn Scott, Sean McIntosh, Kevin Flett
Turriff United - Ross Buchanan: Cammy Bowden, Michael Ralton, Ross Anderson, Barry Massie, Andrew Hutchison, Darren McAllister, Dave McKenzie, Craig Morrison, Robbie Allan, Grant Noble

Lossiemouth - Nikki Smith (Sean McIntosh, 45), Jamie Bagley (Dan Smith, 64),  Jordan Main (Scott Matheson, 75)
Turriff United - Michael Middler (Grant Noble, 75), Lewis Henry (Dave McKenzie, 84)

Lossiemouth - None
Turriff United - None

Referee

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