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King Charles' brace collars dogged Fifers
BRECHIN City hit the back of the net three times on Saturday.
However, if they had finished up with ten goals to their credit their could have been few complaints from their dogged opponents East Fife.
While City were at times wasteful in front of goal, their manager drew solace from the high number of clear-cut goal-scoring opportunities which were created during another highly entertaining 90 minutes at Glebe Park.
"Doctor on call" Jon Seeley returned to the starting line-up and Mark Cowan returned to the bench.
The pattern of the first half was set in the very first minutes of the game.
Rory McAllister held off his man and got in a low drive, which the goalkeeper, Stuart Baiilie scrambled over to turn around the post.
McAllister then eluded the clutches of Nugent on the right and sent a hugely inviting cross over the face of the six-yard line, but City were unable to applying the finishing touches.
Having started the game so brightly and so positively, their was little indication in the first quarter of what was to follow, especially after Charlie King's audacious attempt at a volleyed back-heeler.
The ball was quickly moved forward and David Murie was allow to burst through unchallenged to net the Fifers a lead against the run of play.
Had City fans worried that it was to be one of those days, they shouldn't have.
Their side was level within another 60 seconds. Almost in the same spot where he had won a penalty seven days earlier, Mark Docherty raced into the box.
He was challenged by former Dundee United defender Jamie McCunnie and went down as if hit be a left hook.
Penalty said the referee, and a soft one it looked like. Charlie King never bothered about whether it was a good, bad or indifferent decision, slotting home a decisive spot-kick straight down the centre of the goal.
Craig Nelson was forced into what was his only real save of the entire first half when he gathered a McCunnie grounder and then back came the rampant reds.
Good twin-striker play between King and McAllister saw the former latch on to the latter's lay-off on the right hand side of the penalty area. Charlie struck the ball well, but just the wrong side of the post.
It got more and more frustrating for City as they continued to pepper the visitors'goal. Seeley had a header from a King free-kick blocked on the line and the doc's team-mates were unable to force home the rebound.
It got worse for City on the stroke of half-time. Janzyck, who while not having his greatest game in a red shirt, played two passes in the afternoon that would have graced any stadium in the world. From the first of those McAllister bore down on goal and, with the goalkeeper to beat, he saw Fifers' stopper Stuart Baillie turn his effort for a corner.
Had the experienced City boss Jim Duffy had any hair left, he would have had it pulled out by half-time.
His team had played some excellent football, created numerous chances, but, ultimately and amazingly, trudged off at half-time level at one each. East Fife were flattered at this stage.
Four minutes into the second half, City's 100 per cent home record in the league was put under threat.
Ref Bobby Madden, who didn't have a bad game, perhaps decided to make up for the award of one dodgy penalty, by giving an even softer one.
The ball was slung to the back post and Ovenstone pulled Paul McLean's jersey and was then barged into by his own team-mate Jay Smart.
Penalty number two was dispatched by Paul McManus. Not with the same air of confidence, as Nelson got a hand to the ball, but couldn't prevent it entering the net.
To be fair to Brechin's players, the first 20 minutes of the restart was the only spell in the game when the visitors were on top.
Skipper Janczyk tried to restore parity, but his left-foot drive flew over the top. Then Dyer forced his way down the left flank and his shot-cum-cross to the near post was held at the second attempt by Baillie.
On-loan striker Kris Renton replaced Gary Fusco after 64 minutes.
Around this stage City started finding their way back to normality and put the Fife goal under pressure again.
Janczyk again played the pass of an SPL player to pick out McAllister who finished with his left foot, but it never reached the heights of the attempts with his right.
Perhaps nerves were beginning to tingle around Glebe Park at two-one down.
Then enter the most unlikely of sources to provide a goal. McAllister was again denied by Baillie with a point-blank save from his header, although the ball appeared to cross the line. There was no argument, however, about Paul McLean applying the finishing touches from the rebound to force the ball home for his first goal in senior football.
Not to be outdone McLean's defensive pal, Seeley then was denied once more when he got on the end of a Docherty cross, for his header to be stopped on the goal-line.
Steven Canning replaced the hard-working Docherty and, with almost his first touch of the ball, attempted to loft the ball over the goalkeeper from almost the half-way line, a really intelligent effort which Baillie was happy to see on the top of the net rather than in the back of it.
The second of City's one-on-ones with the goalkeeper was again crafted from the golden boot of Janczyk.
His exquisite left-foot pass gave Kris Renton an opportunity to bore down on goal. Once again, however, Brechin were denied by Baillie, who turned the City sub's effort for a corner.
Six minutes from time, City were back in front and it was another well-crafted and equally well finished goal.
Richard Walker raced down the flank, into the box and crossed to Charlie King, the smallest player on the park about ten yards out. The Prince of Perthshire remembered his early years from his coaches as he rose above the ball and headed it downwards, meaning it fairly "stoated" up and over the helpless goalkeeper.
This victory underlined not only Brechin's ability to carve open defences, but also pass the ball at times.
The only poor part from a home perspective was at the start of the second half, but any thoughts of a midweek hangover were soon dispelled and anything other than three points for Brechin would have been nothing more than an injustice.
Charlie King picked up the man-of-the-match, his striker partner also matched his work rate and Dyer was always a threat on the left.
Brechin have to show the same character and will to win in their next two games on the road to maintain their challenge.
If they create half the number of chances they did on Saturday in the next two, they have a great chance.
Brechin City - Nelson, Walker, McLean, Seeley, Dyer, King, Smith, Fusco (Renton), Janczyk, McAllister (Cowan) and Docherty (Canning).
East Fife - Baillie, Nugent, McCunnie, Smart, Ovenstone, Linn (Staunton), Kerr, Muir (Gourlay), Conway (Fagan), Crawford and McManus.
Referee- B. Madden; attendance - 517.
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Weather for Brechin
Thursday 09 February 2012
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