We took on one of the longest trips in Scottish football this weekend as we made the near 600-mile round trip to Brora to face the Highland League side in the second of our Group A, Premier Sports league cup matches. With the exception of a different trialist in goals this week, manager Nicky Clark started with the same side that faced Kelty Hearts in the opening fixture.
It was the hosts who made the first move when Connor Bunce made his way towards goal before being stopped by Chris McQueen. The winger looked like he was going to be threat as again made his way down the wing but this time over hit his delivery.
A busy start to the game saw Clark force Cameron MacKay into an early save before the keeper got down to gather from Kurtis Guthrie. Still in the opening five minutes, the game moved backup field and Bunce aimed for goal but, the keeper got down to collect his low shot.
Two minutes later Liam Smith cut inside and hit a left foot shot towards the bottom corner but MacKay got a hand to it to turn it out for a corner.
The game had flowed from end to end but with just under fifteen minutes on the clock, it was the visitors who took the lead. Jack Stott played the ball over the top of the defence and Zander MacKenzie did well to control before passing to Clark at the edge of the six-yard box and he swept a right foot shot into the net.
Three minutes later McQueen made a clearance off the line when Bunce curled a right foot effort that had the keeper beaten. The hosts were very much in the game and had another chance around the half hour mark when Tony Dingwall played a free-kick in to the box and as it was cleared it fell to Connall Ewan who caught it on the volley with his right boot but it flew the wrong side of the post.
HALF TIME: Brora Rangers 0 Queens 1
Queens were forced into an early change in the second half when Jack Hannah who had picked up a heavy knock just before the break couldn’t continue.
Eight minutes after the restart, Taylor Charters found Clark with a side pass but the Gaffer couldn’t get enough on it to have a clean shot at goal.
The visitors were comfortable but Brora were still pushing and as Dingwall played in another free-kick, McQueen cleared for a corner. As the ball came in from there the defender was again on hand this time to block at the edge of the area from Craig MacKenzie.
The game was put to bed with around twenty minutes to go when Liam Smith scored a quick-fire double. Firstly, he timed his run perfectly to get on the end of a brilliant pass from Clark to collect and take the ball away from the keeper to run it into an empty net. The second, just two minutes later, again came from a Clark lay-off, this time Smith held off the challenge of three defenders to run through and lift the ball over the keeper to round off the scoring and secure the three points in what was a very professional performance by the side.
FULL TIME: Brora Rangers 0 Queens 3
Teams:
Brora Rangers: MacKay, C Ewan, Nixon, Dingwall, MacKenzie, Anderson, Sutherland, Wallace, Pullen, Bunce and Rogerson. Subs: Gardiner, Clark, M Ewan, Wilson & Kerr.
Queens: Trialist, Goldie, Charters, Stott, McQueen, Hannah, Smith, Rogerson, Guthrie, Clark & MacKenzie. Subs: Luissint, Johnstone, Kelly, Gray, Thomson, Morton & Petry.