Tuesday & Wednesday April 9th & 10th
Weir's classic hat-trick as Brora take a battering
hit a hat-trick as Academy turned on the style with a 6-0 hammering of Brora
Rangers at Harmsworth Park – the Scorries' biggest-ever win over their derby
rivals.
Davie
Kirkwood's men produced a fine display of slick passing, clever movement and
clinical finishing and could easily have won by a much greater margin.
Davie Allan
got the opener after seven minutes when he seized on a loose ball ahead of Weir
and lashed it low into the net.
Richard
Macadie, in sparkling form on his return to the starting line-up, set up Weir
for the second on 39 minutes. Weir was in acres of space as he drove a
left-foot shot beyond keeper Sean McCarthy.
The match
was effectively over as a contest when Weir made it 3-0 a minute into the
second half, flashing a header in at the near post from a Macadie corner on the
left.
Sam Mackay
added a spectacular fourth in the 77th minute with a brilliantly
executed free kick. The ball flew past the diving McCarthy and went in off the
underside of the crossbar.
Two minutes
later Allan raced through in the inside-right channel and drove a powerful shot
into the far corner for his 22nd goal of the season in all
competitions.
With five
minutes to go, Weir completed a classic hat-trick – left foot, header and right
foot – when he gained possession in a crowded box and squeezed the ball in at
McCarthy's left post.
It was
Weir's fifth competitive hat-trick for the club and his 13th goal of
the current campaign.
Brora had
drafted in a number of youngsters and this one-sided encounter proved to be a
harsh lesson for them. A glance at the goals-against column of the league table
will be a similarly painful experience for the Sutherland outfit as this result
takes their tally of goals conceded into treble figures.
It was only
the second clean sheet of the season for Academy and the first for Michael Gray
since establishing himself as the club's No. 1. The previous clean sheet had
been achieved in the 2-0 away win against Formartine United in October when
Alan Bokas was in goal.
Elsewhere
on Tuesday, Cove Rangers kept up their pursuit of leaders Forres with a 4-0
victory over Huntly at Allan Park. The goals came from Martin Johnston, Ryan
Stott, Jamie Beagrie and Stephen Jeffery.
Inverurie
Locos' slim hopes of landing the title were effectively ended as they had to
settle for a 2-2 draw at Buckie. Locos were twice ahead, through Jack Strachan
and Nicky Gordon, but the Jags hit back with goals from Martin Charlesworth and
Hamish Munro.
There were
three matches on Wednesday night.
Nairn
County were weld to a 1-1 by Clachnacuddin at Grant Street Park, where Scott
Graham's first-half goal for the home side was cancelled out by Ross Naismith
late on.
Logan
Barker struck a stoppage-time equaliser to earn a 1-1 draw for Fort William in
their home game against Keith. Johnny Cook had put the Maroons ahead just
before the break.
Lossiemouth
moved up to eighth in the table after a 2-0 away victory over Deveronvale.
Nikki Smith opened the scoring from the penalty spot and Colin Charlesworth
added the second.
