Moray welfare football round-up: First point for Seaforth while league leaders and champions battle out a stalemate
A Moray welfare football side has picked up their first-ever league point after a run of 12 straight defeats.
Elgin outfit Seaforth entered the league for the first time this season but found results hard to come by despite a series of battling performances.
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They finally broke their duck on Tuesday night, when a last-minute wonder strike earned a 2-2 draw away to Lhanbryde United.
In the first game after the league split, Seaforth’s bid to end their losing run got off to a bad start when they trailed 2-0 inside 15 minutes.
Hosts Lhanbryde looked to add to their misery, netting on eight minutes when Kenzie Lawton chipped the ball through for Craig Sim to take it down and hammer home.
The Seaforth keeper then saved a Sim effort soon after but Aaron Wells was on hand to tap in United’s second.
The visitors got one back after half an hour as a quick counter-attack put Ashley Tew through on goal to fire into the roof of the net.
Some good saves prevented Lhanbryde from adding to their lead before half time, with the defensive action proving to be crucial later in the contest.
The home pressure continued after the break but good goalkeeping kept them at bay.
In the 90th minute, Seaforth put in one last attack and the ball dropped 30 yards from goal to Ryan cameron, who hit a screamer into the top corner of the net to give his team their first result.
Cullen and Craigellachie are the top two sides in the newly-formed First Division after the split and they met in Craigellachie.
It was Cullen who drew first blood after 11 minutes when Iain Muir fired the ball through a ruck of bodies into the net.
Aaron O’Hara levelled from a penalty given for handball, and Craigellachie took the lead before half time when Jordan Gray’s ball into the danger zone struck a Cullen defender and spun in.
The home side had the better of things after the break with Michael Mortimer denied by a fine save and O’Hara hitting a post, while Cullen spurned a chance to level when Mair’s late penalty missed the target.
Victory was secured by Craigellachie three minutes later as Mortimer headed in Scott McPherson’s corner for a 3-1 victory.
Aberlour Villa will play Bucke Rovers in the Mike Simpson Memorial Trophy final after thrashing Hopeman in Tuesday’s semi-final.
Home side Villa took a fourth minute lead as the referee played advantage after a foul on Jay Morrison, allowing Marcus Murray to progress and score.
Morrison then conceded a penalty at the other end and Matt Herley fired home from the spot to level for Hopeman.
Aberlour regained the lead from Barry Grant’s spectacular 35-yard strike, and Grant went on to complete a first half hat-trick with two more goals, both from crosses by Stephen McKenzie.
In the second half Grant turned provider for Kelvin Main to head in Villa’s fifth, before Jordan Orr broke away to pull one back.
Korey Pring and Liam Munro added two more for Villa, and a late double by Murray to complete his own treble sealed a 9-2 victory.
Back to league action, the top split sees several teams pushing for the Premier Division title and two of them faced off at Merson Park as leaders Buckie Rovers took on champions FC Fochabers.
The two contenders cancelled each other out for long spells and both Buckie keeper Glen Fraser and Fochabers counterpart Kieran Burchell made some fine stops to keep the scoresheet blank.
Perhaps the best chance arrived right at the death for Fochabers when a misplaced Buckie pass led to a trialist going clean through, but Fraser made a crucial stop and the rebound was fired into the side netting.
The other Premier fixture saw RAF Lossiemouth win 2-0 at Thunderton.
The airmen took the lead when a cross was turned into his own net by Thunderton stopper Ross Mitchell.
The scoring was completed on the hour as Henry Jordan intercepted a home pass and continued into the box before finishing well.
