The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
NOTHING DOING BUT NO BLANK LOOKS
Momentummaintainedasirresistableforce meetsimmovableobjectinstalemate PETERHEAD MONTROSE COVE RANGERS BRECHIN CITY
Peterhead made it three games unbeaten with this point but it was far from a classic at Balmoor with the Blue Toon and Montrose cancelling each other out.
But after wins against Raith Rovers and Clyde, keeping another clean sheet and putting another point on the board maintains momentum – according to Jamie Stevenson.
The veteran Blue Toon right-back said: “We’ve been on a good run of form and they have been on a great run of form and we just cancelled each other out.
“They didn’t have a shot on target and a point keeps our wee run going, it’s three unbeaten now.
“It wasn’t the best performance, but a point’s not a bad result.
“The positive for us was that we kept a clean sheet and the whole team from Greg Fleming in goal right through to Rory McAllister up front defended well.”
Peterhead have conceded just once in their last three games and Stevenson believes that is allied to a settled back four of himself, Jason Brown, Scott Hooper and Paddy Boyle.
He added: “Myself and Jason Brown have a good partnership on the right side of defence.
“Paddy Boyle has played most games at left-back and Scott Hooper has come in and impressed. He wins a lot of headers, which is impressive for somebody that isn’t particularly tall.
“He also wins a lot of tackles and Scott only came in after Cammy Eadie got injured and Cammy started the season really well so there’s plenty of competition for places.”
Paul Hartley has urged his Cove Rangers side to continue being ruthless at home to maintain the 100% record.
The League 2 leaders have yet to drop a point at Balmoral Stadium since joining the SPFL in the summer.
You have to go back to the Betfred Cup game against Dundee, in which they took the
In the opening quarter, most of the play was towards the Montrose goal but the Blue Toon struggled to carve out clear openings.
The closest effort was Rory McAllister’s snapshot which was deflected over and
Championship outfit to penalties, to find the last time the Aberdeen side failed to pick up all three points on home soil.
This win over Brechin City, which came courtesy
Stevenson’s free-kick from 30 yards which was held by former Aberdeen goalkeeper Aaron Lennox.
The Gable Endies’ best effort of the first period was Liam Callaghan’s long-range strike which whistled of second-half goals from Mitch Megginson, Declan Glass and Scott Ross, ensured Cove maintained a five-point gap at the top of the division.
Hartley, who took over as manager in the summer, wants no let-up from his in-form charges.
He said: “We’ve got to keep it going. We’ve got to be ruthless.
“If we can win in style, brilliant. We’re consistent and in a good run of form but there’s a long way to wide. Right on the stroke of half-time, Stevenson’s free-kick was spilled by Lennox and Jack Leitch fired the rebound into the side-netting from an acute angle.
Peterhead started the second period on the go. We say to them every week that teams are going to sit in, be compact, have bodies behind the ball and frustrate you.
“We need to keep playing and keep working. We want to keep the ball moving and we’ve got some good players. Declan Glass was really good at times. We know he can create something from nothing. He scores a brilliant goal out of nothing off his weaker foot.
“Away keepers are performing really well to keep the scoreline down.”
At times it looked like it would not be Cove’s day, with visiting goalkeeper Ross Sinclair in inspired form.
He kept out Fraser Fyvie, Fraser Aird, Glass and Connor Scully in the first period as Brechin struggled to cling on.
The breakthrough came with 12 minutes to go as Fyvie slipped in substitute Martin Scott and he laid it off to Megginson, who