The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Holders Broch out at hands of Juniors
Banks o’ Dee comanager Jamie Watt says they have the belief to win the Evening Express Aberdeenshire Cup after knocking out holders Fraserburgh.
The Juniors defeated the Broch – who have won the last two Shire Cups – 2-1 in the semi-final at Bellslea.
Dee will now play either Formartine United or Deveronvale in the final.
Watt, who is joint boss along with Roy McBain, said: “I’m really proud of the boys because we only had two available defenders in our squad and then one of them, Neale Allan, pulls up after 20 minutes.
“We had to rejig and when you’re playing against Fraserburgh with one natural defender you wonder what might happen.
“But to a man I thought they were excellent. Kane Winton the captain led by example, he dropped into central defence and was tremendous.
“I actually thought we outfought Fraserburgh, usually they win the battles, but I thought we won them.
“We’ve beaten Keith, Inverurie Locos and Fraserburgh so we’re doing it the hard way.
“Whoever we play in the final we’ll show them respect but we’ve got confidence and belief that we can win this trophy.
“It’s great to get to the final. We enter these tournaments to test ourselves against sides from a higher level.
“But over the last three or four years we’ve grown and shown we’re good enough to compete and beat these teams.
“The belief is now there that whoever we play we can win the game.”
Banks o’ Dee took the lead after 10 minutes when Jamie Buglass found Michael Philipson in the box and his sliced shot fell for Lachie MacLeod to curl home from the left side of the area.
Buglass could have added a second soon after, but a poor touch let him down when in behind the Broch back line.
Fraserburgh struggled to create in the first period, but visiting keeper Lee Sweeney did make an important intervention to deny Ryan Sargent on 35 minutes.
At the start of the second period Broch goalkeeper Paul Leask saved well from Philipson, Magnus Watson poked an effort just wide and Kieran Simpson made a goalsaving block to thwart Philipson.
The home side levelled on 62 minutes with Sweeney failing to clear on the edge of the area which allowed Sargent to nip in and find the unguarded net.
Five minutes later Banks o’ Dee were back ahead with Buglass’s shot from the edge of the box deflecting off Mark Gilmour and beating Leask.
Despite late Fraserburgh pressure they couldn’t find an equaliser to force penalties.
Boss Mark Cowie said: “The better team on the night won, I don’t think we can dispute that.
“They wanted it, they went toe to toe with us and got the better of us.
“First half I thought we knocked the ball about not too badly but there was no intensity or drive.
“They got a bit lucky with how the ball broke for the first goal, but it was bad defending from us.
“Their second goal came from us losing possession on the edge of our box and we should have stopped it from happening.
“In the second half we thought we’d get a reaction but it didn’t really materialise, we ended up lumping the ball into the box and their two centrehalves were immense.
“We had a couple of chances and could have stolen something, but it would have been a steal to take it to penalties.”