Match Report - By John Hoey

Brechin City 3 Forfar Athletic 3

Brechin City and Forfar Athletic shared six goals in one of the beast derbies in years at Glebe Park.

City grabbed a two-goal first-half lead through Andy Jackson and Bobby Barr before the Loons hit back just before the break with an Omar Kader goal.

Goals from Gavin Swankie and Chris Templeman then put the visitors in front before Alan Trouten scored a late leveller for City.

As expected, manager Ray McKinnon replaced the suspended Colin Hamilton with Paul McLean and that was the on,y change from the side that had defeated Stirling Albion on Tuesday night.

Forfar had the first opportunity of the match after just five minutes when a Gavin Swankie shot from 20 yards was easily saved by Smith and four minutes later Swankie sent over a good cross from the left for Chris Templeman who headed just over the bar

The Loons keep up the early pressure and a Stephen Husband thunderbolt after 13 minutes cannoned back off the bar before being cleared by the City defence.

City hit back and a Robert Thomson shot was blocked by Husband and a minute later Bobby Barr delivered a great cross into the Forfar box but unfortunately there were no takers. Barr had better luck five minutes later when he delivered a superb cross from the right straight to former Loon Andy Jackson who had time and space to steer a header beyond Douglas into the bottom corner of the net.

The Loons fought hard to grab the equaliser and a fierce Scott Smith drive after 23 minutes was parried by namesake Graeme in the City goal and a minute later Stuart Malcolm headed a Michael Dunlop cross over the bar.

The visitors kept up the pressure and Dale Hilson outpaced Darren McCormack a minute later only to see his shot squirm just inches past the post.

However, the Loons were shocked five minutes later when City went two goals up.

A Thomson cross from the right was headed out by Malcolm straight into the path of Barr who blasted a superb first-time volley past Douglas.

The stunned Loons hit straight back and they reduced the deficit five minutes before half-time when Smith delivered a great cross from the left into the path of Omar Kader who slid in to slot the ball into the net.

City should have extended their lead three minutes into the second-half when a great pass from Barr sent Thomson in the clear. The big striker rounded Douglas and shot for goal but Swankie did brilliantly to track back and clear the ball off the line with the home support on their feet ready to applaud what looked like a certain goal.

However, the Loons hit back and they levelled the match in the 72nd minute when a great Kader cross from the right was slotted home by Swankie and the visitors sensationally grabbed the lead five minutes later when Hilson picked up the ball on the right and crossed into the box for Templeman who rose above the City defence to head strongly past Smith.

However, City didn't let their heads go down and they levelled a superb match with eight minutes remaining when Jackson played through substitute Alan Trouten who kept his composure to round Douglas and poke the ball into the net.