Experience key as Brechin go top again

A moment of magic from striker Andy Jackson was enough to send Brechin back to the top of League One after a narrow victory at Stair Park.

There was little between the sides over 90 minutes but Jackson managed to get on the end of Willie Dyer’s cross and wriggled free of three Stranraer defenders to find a pocket of space and roll the ball across Cameron Belford for the only goal of the game with quarter-ofan-hour left.

Manager Darren Dods hailed his side’s impressive start to the campaign, which is in contrast to last year, and the importance of experienced players in his team.

He said: “Experience has made a big difference, especially in games like this.

“Also with the momentum we got at the end of last season, with eight wins in the last 10 games, taking that confidence and momentum behind them and carrying it into this season as well.

“You go into management hoping for a good start and we had the worst possible start with eight games without a win.

“Then we picked up a win and it was like a rollercoaster where we kept going down and it was only the last 10 games where, from my point of view, the season ended too soon for us.

“We’ve managed to keep it going this season.”

The hosts were on top for much of the first half, with Brechin having goalkeeper Graeme Smith to thank for keeping the scores blank.

Craig Malcolm held up Willie Gibson’s free-kick and rolled the ball to Giuliano Morena, who was only denied his first goal in Scottish football by Smith’s outstretched leg.

However, the visitors came more into the match after the break and Jackson had a penalty appeal waved away by referee David Munro before his goal.

Stranraer tried to get back into the game in the closing stages but the Brechin defence held firm and Smith was relatively untested.

Andy Jackson: netted the winner for City.