Being brave pays off for Petrie and players

Montrose climbed to within four points of League Two’s fourth-placed side Elgin with a 3-0 victory over Edinburgh City.

Despite his side keeping their play-off hopes alive with their biggest league win of the season, manager Stewart Petrie says they will keep their feet firmly on the ground.

“That was a big win for us, and it was good to put on a show and win at home,” he said.

“My guys went about things in the right way. I asked them to pass the ball and be brave, and it worked out for us.

“We scored a couple of great goals. You won’t see better goals than our first two over the whole of the weekend.

“If you score first in this division you have a chance,” he added.

“We lost early goals in our last two home games and lost them both.

“We were able to build on the goal and got more confident, and I am delighted with a third successive clean sheet. I went with a back four to give us more possession in wide areas.

“We are four points behind Elgin now, and we go to Borough Briggs next week with confidence.

Montrose opened the scoring on 43 minutes. Andrew Steeves burst forward on the left, exchanged passes with Gary Fraser and hammered the ball high into the net.

The home side stretched their lead on 53 minutes with an even more spectacular strike.

Paul Watson was just inside his own half when he spotted Calum Antell off his line and thumped a first-time effort over the head of the stranded keeper.

Montrose looked for more and put the icing on the cake on 71 minutes. Cammy Ballantyne crossed from the right and Chris Templeman rose high to power home a trademark header.

On target for Montrose: Andrew Steeves.