Blue Toon deserving winners of four-goal thriller at Balmoor

Peterhead beat Brechin City 3-1 in an entertaining match at Balmoor Stadium last night.

The Blue Toon heaped pressure on the City defence straight from the kick-off with Isaac Layne and Scott Brown both having efforts on goal before the deadlock was broken after just eight minutes.

Layne collected a pass from Simon Ferr y 20 yards from goal and unleashed a tremendous right- foot drive which Paddy O’Neil in the City goal got a hand to but couldn’t stop.

It was 2-0 for the hosts just four minutes later when former City striker Layne side-footed the ball home from close-range following a Ryan Conroy corner.

Peterhead, who had handed Dundee United a shock weekend defeat, continued to surge forward in numbers and the game was over as a contest after 24 minutes when Steven Boyd picked up the ball 25 yards from goal before firing home a glorious drive which soared into the top corner of the net.

City tried to ge t a foot-hold in the game in an effort to pull a goal back and Jimmy Scott came close a couple of minutes later when his right-foot shot from the edge of the box went narrowly past.

However, Peterhead continued to press in search of further goals but the last chance of the half fell to City with Michael Paton sending a shot wide of the target a couple of minutes before half-time.

City dramatically gave themselves a lifeline right at the start of the secondhalf when substitute Kieran Inglis, who had replaced Sean McIntosh at half- time, chased a long ball forward and managed to prod the ball past Blue Toon keeper Joshua Rae to narrow the deficit.

T his goal gave the visitors confidence but the next goal- scoring opportunity came Peterhead’s way with a Layne drive from the edge of the box coming back off the post.

City were now battling hard and giving a good account of themselves but it was the hosts who came closest to adding to their tally in the 65 th minute when O’Neil did well to keep out an Andrew McCarthy shot.

The Blue Toon still had the majority of pressure and possession but City looked dangerous moving forward with a 25-yard Inglis shot saved by Rae with 11 minutes remaining.

The keeper also brought off a great save to deny Scott Cusick right at the death but Peterhead held on for a thoroughly deserved victory.