Forres Mechanics end Highland League leaders Brechin City’s unbeaten start just a week after stunning champions Buckie Thistle as manager Steven MacDonald hails Mosset Park turnaround
Some were tipping Forres Mechanics for Highland League relegation this season - but look at them now.
A week after stunning champions Buckie Thistle on their own patch, the Cans humbled runaway leaders Brechin City by ending their proud undefeated record with a memorable 3-2 Mosset Park success.
Mechanics are sitting proudly in the top half of the table, rubbing shoulders with some of the league’s big spenders.
Manager Steven MacDonald is thrilled by his team’s progress, particularly with some of the negativity surrounding the Moray club at the start of the campaign.
“The main objective was at the start of the season to get away from the bottom - and it still is,” MacDonald said.
“The league is so tight and you forget what it was like at the start. I’m sure there were plenty of people who thought we would be involved in that relegation battle.”
Instead, Forres are picking up results and attracting bigger crowds to Mosset Park. The noise reached a crescendo when Aidan Cruickshank crashed home their stoppage time winner on Saturday.
“There was a really good atmosphere, the best atmosphere I’ve seen at Forres for a long time,” said MacDonald. “It was a really happy place on Saturday, a good crowd there with everyone really vocal behind the team at the end.
“I don’t forget reading comments at the start of the season. When someone asked what sort of crowds Forres get, one fan said we would be lucky to get double figures this season, the way the team is.
“We are on a good run just now and it can turn quickly, but these sort of things show how people shouldn’t be so quick to make their judgements and instead back their team a bit more.”
Forres came from behind to secure one of the shock results of the Highland League season against a Brechin side which had been unbeaten in the Highland League since April 6.
The Tayside outfit had won 15 and drawn two of their 17 league contests since that last loss, and are firm favourites to win the title and push for their target of a return to the SPFL ranks.
They took the lead through a Fraser Macleod goal at Mosset Park, only for the home team to turn it around quickly and lead through efforts by Calum Frame and Jordan Alonge.
Dayle Robertson’s 11th strike of the season restored parity at the break, and most clubs would have been happy to settle for a draw against the table toppers in that situation.
But not Forres. They did rely on some good saves by keeper Cammy Farquhar but always carried a threat on the break, and that came to fruition in the dying embers of the match.
With many expecting City to go on and snatch a late winner, it was former Elgin City man Cruickshank who pounced on a loose ball on the edge of the box and swept a glorious left foot drive high into the net.
“We competed well with them in the first half and didn’t want to go a goal behind,” said MacDonald. “When we did, you could see the reaction from the boys was good straight away, urging each other on to keep the heads up and keep going.
“We fought back and got a goal straight back and then we took the lead to turn the game right around. I thought we could get to half time ahead so I was disappointed to be at two-all - but we were right in the game.
“We expected it, how the second half played out because they had the vast majority of the ball and we were trying to force the game but they got a bit panicky and it was a case of if we could get the winning goal and not them.
“We wanted to make one of our counter attacks count and we did at the end with Aidan’s bit of magic, which we know he is capable of. It was a great finish and a great boost for everyone.
“Getting results like this is where you get the belief from. We are not just making it up by saying to the players that we can do this.
“It started when we went to Formartine at the start of the season (and won 3-2), and coming back from two down at Turriff. As you progress it’s great to have these things in the memory bank as an example of what we can do, and hopefully that feeling stays with the boys because they are certainly in great form.
“They were on cloud nine at the end.”
MacDonald also remembers the lower points of the current campaign to serve as a warning of how form can turn in the other direction.
In particular, a 4-0 midweek defeat at Keith served as a reminder of how there is much work to be done within the squad.
“The Keith game was a real humbling for us,” MacDonald said. “At the time it was worrying because you wonder if you are going to slip back to where it was last year, but the reaction was really good.
“We got well thrashed on the night and you still look back on it because Keith were really good that night, but football is funny. They beat Brora and ourselves and have kind of struggled, until they got a really good result at Wick at the weekend.
“We have learned from that day and really kicked on, but there will be setbacks on the way. Against Deveronvale we were disappointed with how we played but hopefully we can keep improving and I’m pleased with the way things are going right now.”
It’s no secret that Mechanics’ vastly improved displays owe much to their superior firepower. Already Kyle MacLeod and Calum Frame have equalled last season’s top scorer tally of seven achieved by Lee Fraser, with three more players within a goal or two.
“It’s been a big difference that we are more of a threat going forward now. We did play a lot of good football last season but we didn’t have an end product, so it definitely makes a difference when that translates into goals.
“We are seeing that in games, when you can score goals you can stay in these games and if the threat is there, it makes us all the more dangerous.
“Although we lost two goals on Saturday against the top team and we won the week before, we defended well in both games.
“Yes we rode our luck at times but you are always going to have to do that against the top teams. You’re playing against last year’s champions and the team that’s top of the league just now so you are always going to have to ride it out at times, but we were pretty solid.”
MacDonald is pleased with the contribution of his forward players, but is equally delighted with the performances of some of his new faces to the squad.
“It’s all very well saying that we are scoring more goals, which is an obvious plus and the boys are getting a lot of credit for that. But our goalkeeper Cammy Farquhar has come in and he’s been absolutely excellent, especially in the last two weeks, just phenomenal.
“Shaun Sutherland has been one of the best signings we’ve made when you think that we got him on a free. He’s producing it week in, week out and when you think he’s having to play right back which isn’t his preferred position when he was scoring goals from the middle of the park at the beginning of the season, you can rely on him to give you everything.
“You tend to look at the likes of Kyle MacLeod, Matty Jamieson or Jordan Alonge and they get the headlines but Shaun has been absolutely fantastic. Sam Nixon and Calum Howarth have been really solid in the last couple of weeks and playing out of their skin.
“Young Liam Grant has come in from nowhere too, he played left back on Saturday and that allows us to get Mark further forward. He was a free transfer, he was playing for the Grantown welfare team so we picked him up as well and that’s a real bonus.
“These guys have been excellent over the last two weeks and it is easy to give the praise to the boys who have been scoring but the team and the squad is certainly getting stronger.
“It’s not going to get much better than the results we’ve had in the last two weeks. They are one one-off games but it’s a case of getting the squad even stronger and keep building on it. That’s the only way you are going to improve in what is a frighteningly tough league.”
