Mackay grabs late winner in Cattachs cup comeback

Brora Rangers playermanager Steven Mackay hit a late winner as his side came from two goals down to book a Scottish Cup second round home tie against Coldstream.

The introduction of Paul Brindle sparked the revival after Turriff had gone 3-1 up midway through the second half.

Mackay, 10 goals short of reaching a 200-goal milestone for the Cattachs, said: “We certainly didn’t underestimate Turriff but we just couldn’t get going in the first half. We were probably fortunate to go 1-0 up at half-time.

“We were a mile off at the start of the second half, too.

“But after going 3-1 down we changed to three up top. We brought on Paul Brindle, who was exceptional. We managed to nick it, although the victory was probably unfair on Turriff.”

Turriff, who were big underdogs before the tie, started strongly.

Angus Grant and Keir Smith went close for the visitors before Kyle MacLeod gave Brora the lead in the 28th minute after Craig Campbell slipped him in.

The visitors made an impressive start to the second half and they deservedly equalised in the 48th minute when Smith finished off a slick move from 12 yards.

Brora goalkeeper Joe Malin was forced to pull off a couple of superb saves from David Ross and Smith before Turriff went ahead just before the hour mark. Grant got free of his marker and his cross into the box was hammered home by Ross.

Turriff grabbed a third when Stuart Taylor beat Malin to the ball on the edge of the 18-yard box 10 minutes later to steer it into the empty net.

Brindle entered the play and within a minute Brora pulled one back when he teed up Campbell at the back post for a tap-in.

It was all-square in the 70th minute when Campbell raced on to a Dale Gillespie throughball to net with a left-foot drive.

The winner arrived eight minutes later when the Turriff defence failed to deal with another Brindle delivery and Mackay smashed the loose ball high into the net.

Turriff manager Kris Hunter said: “We dominated the first half, so to be 1-0 down at halftime was hard on us.

“We deserved to be 3-1 up but we needed to manage the game better from then.”