Lossiemouth 0 Rothes 1: Coasters edged by Speysiders in tight Moray derby
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ROTHES picked up a 1-0 win over ten-man Lossiemouth in a hard-fought encounter at Grant Park last night.
A header from Gary Kerr after an Allan Pollock corner on 14 minutes was enough for the Speysiders, who moved up to third in the table with the points.
Lossiemouth, who remain 13th, had Ross Elliot sent off 49 minutes into the match.
Rothes boss Ross Jack was pleased to pick up the victory off the back of Saturday's 1-0 cup defeat to Lowland League side Dalbeattie Star.
Jack, who is now preparing his side for a “huge” top-of-the-table clash with Fraserburgh, said: “Lossie put everybody behind the ball and made it tough for us, which we expected.
“I didn’t think they had any threat apart from the last few minutes when they threw everybody forward – and we had umpteen chances and just couldn’t take them.
“But it’s three points and a 1-0 win, which could have been a hell of a lot more.
“It’s a wee bit of a reaction after Saturday – we created plenty but we need to improve our finishing.
“We don’t have anybody setting the goalscoring charts on fire so it’s an area where we definitely need to improve.
"Focus is now on the Broch. If we beat them then the gap is down to six points, so the pressure is on them."
Rothes started quickly at Grant Park, with Gary Kerr firing a shot across goal and just wide after 90 seconds.
On 14 minutes, Kerr gave the visitors the lead when he nodded in Allan Pollock’s corner from five yards.
That lead was almost doubled 10 minutes later but Craig Cormack’s well-hit effort was parried over by Logan Ross.
Ryan Stuart had Lossie’s best effort when he fired a shot just over before the half-hour mark.
Rothes’ Jack Brown thought he’d made it 2-0 just into the second half when Gary Kerr raced through and squared for him, but the linesman’s flag denied him.
Ross Elliot, who came on as a sub after half an hour, was sent off for a second yellow on 49 minutes – leaving the hosts with an uphill task.
Rothes had plenty chances but couldn’t double their tally, mostly thanks to the impressive Logan Ross.
Fraser Robertson’s well-hit effort was saved by the keeper on 75 minutes, while substitute Shane Harkness fired just wide after a ball in behind the defence by Brown with three to play.
Lossie assistant manager Ian Campbell said: "“It was a hard-fought game.
"We are disappointed not to get something out it. The boys deserved something.
“I don’t think either of the teams were great, football-wise.
“We are a bit disappointed with some of the refereeing decisions. All we are looking for is consistency and a lot of things went against us.
“But our boys gave everything. We are getting there, we just need to turn these wee defeats into victories.
“We’ve got no doubt about the fight they’ve got, it’s just about turning it into points.”
