Spencer’s superb finish means spoils are shared after Glebe Park thriller

BRECHIN CITY 2 FORFAR ATHLETIC 2

Brechin City and Forfar Athletic shared the spoils following a hardfought and competitive derby encounter at Glebe Park.

A draw at the end of the day was certainly a fair outcome with City dominating the opening 45 minutes and the Loons doing likewise after the break

Forfar started the match really well and a Jamie Bain shot came crashing off the City crossbar after just five minutes.

City then stamped their authority on proceedings and grabbed the opener seven minutes later.

A Craig Thomson cross was knocked back by Ross Kavanagh into the path of Andy Jackson and the striker blasted a left-foot shot into the bottom corner of the net.

City kept up the pressure and they made it 2-0 on the half-hour mark when Dougie Hill rose above the visitors’ defence to power home a header from a Kalvin Orsi cross.

However, the Loons gave themselves a lifeline a minute before the break when City gave away possession just within the Forfar half.

The ball was played out to John Baird, who promptly passed to Dylan Easton – completely unmarked at the edge of the box – and he had time and space to slot the ball past Paddy O’neil.

Forfar grabbed the initiative straight from the restart and dominated the vast majority of the second half.

Their pressure reaped dividends with 12 minutes remaining when Brad Spencer curled a sublime chip from the edge of the box into the top corner of the net.

City boss Barry Smith said: “I think we deserved to be in front at half-time and had played well for 44 minutes but a wrong decision just before the break gave Forfar the impetus for the second half.

“Forfar are a good team with a lot of forward-thinking players and although they caused us problems in the second half they didn’t cut us open and we defended well.”

Loons counterpart Jim Weir said: “Football’s a funny old game. I thought we were controlling the match and then Jackson did what he does best by sticking the ball in the back of the net.

“Then we lost another goal from a set-play. However, scoring just before half-time gave us more selfbelief going out for the second half.

“We stepped it up a wee bit, got into the right areas, looked more threatening and positive and defended better.”

“I’m a wee bit disappointed that we didn’t go on to win.”