Saturday to forget for Fort as Brora net eight

Fort William travelled to Dudgeon Park on Saturday to face Brora Rangers in a tough encounter, writes Ally Rowantree.

Manger Ashley Hollyer made two changes to the side that lost to Lossie midweek in the cup. Fort fell behind after six minutes when Tom Kelly was played through for Brora and he calmly finished past keeper Kulbacki. The lead was almost squandered by Brora as Connor Moore broke through to be one on one with the keeper only to see his shot miss narrowly wide.

Into the 20th minute and Brora rattled the post with the Fort keeper parrying out the re-bound before the ball was put over the bar, a warning sign of what was to come. And on the 24th minute Brora had their second - 2-0.

Brora were awarded a free kick on the edge of the box in the 38th minute and Dale Gillespie stepped up to hit a rocket of a free hit past Kulbacki making it 3-0. Fort William just couldn’t find their way into the game and on the the stroke of half-time, Josh Meekings scored Brora’s fourth, making it 4-0 at the interval. The second half was a mirror of the first half as Brora scored four more goals, the first a neat half volley on the 49th minute before an incredible 30-yard effort made it six in the 52nd minute. The hosts’ seventh goal came from another free kick, well-taken in the 53rd minute, before Dale Gillespie put the eighth goal in from outside the box to make Saturday a day to forget for Fort William.

Following the game, the Claggan Park club’s Peter Murphy urged Fort FC supporters to keep contributing and helping in any way possible to help with the club and pitch. Murphy said all the hard work so far has not gone unrecognised and will be key in bringing football back to Claggan Park which will be huge for a team currently having to travel such large distances every Saturday.