No cheer for Blair

Blairgowrie travelled to Brechin on Saturday in search of some early festive cheer.

However, it was not to be as the visitors gave themselves too much to do following a dreadful start on an afternoon which saw the east Perthshire side finish up on the wrong end of a 5-2 defeat.

Despite a bright opening by Brechin, Blairgowrie soon began to dominate in terms of territory and they had a net-bound shot by Cammy McManus bravely blocked three yards out.

In the 11th minute, Brechin broke away to score the simplest of goals against the run of play after the Blair defence was caught out by a long ball. Things got worse by the half-hour mark as home side Vics added two more soft goals.

The 3-0 scoreline was something of a travesty given the run of play and by half-time Blair had got themselves back into contention.

James Simpson crashed a header into the roof of the Brechin net from a Gary Axworthy free-kick in the 41st minute, then Darren Neave fired in a penalty.

The pattern continued after the interval and a wonder-save denied Matty Adam the equaliser.

That proved to be something of a turning point and it was the closest Blair came to grabbing a third.

With time running out, Brechin added two further goals which were definitely in the‘avoidable’category.