Revenge for Lossiemouth team in Highland Welfare Cup

BRANDER exacted revenge for a humiliating defeat by sending Cullen spinning out of the Highland Welfare Cup on Sunday.

The Lossiemouth Premier League outfit suffered a bruising 6-0 loss against their Division 1 opponents when the teams last met in the Tewnion Cup just three weeks earlier.

But a powerful second-half Brander performance last weekend ensured there would be no repeat of the shock result.

Brander opened the scoring from Stephen Mitchell’s first time cross which was brilliantly controlled and finished in one move by strike partner Frankie Whittle.

Home keeper Sean McIntosh did well to keep out efforts by Cullen’s David Bain and Neil Mair, but was beaten on the half hour when David King converted a Mair pass.

Mair soon fired Cullen in front, with McIntosh keeping out efforts by Russell McLaughlin and George Stewart to keep the home team within touching distance at the interval.

The second half was a story of Brander domination. D. Mair superbly tipped over from Whittle in the opening moments, and it wasn’t long before Whittle set up Mitchell to volley the Lossie men level. Five minutes later, Chris Cooper netted a bizarre goal to give Brander the lead, his 30-yard free kick evading everyone and ending up in the far corner of the net.

Whittle slid home a John Evans cross on the hour, and when Michael Smith bulleted in a header from the impressive Ryan Farquhar’s cross, it was 5-2 and Brander were in the last sixteen of the competition.

See Friday's Northern Scot for a full Moray welfare football round up and pictures.

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