Match Report - By Steven Mew

A first goal of the season for Michael Paton set City on their way to a third consecutive five-goal victory yesterday afternoon.

It was another match in which City dominated from start to finish, but it took a flurry of goals late on to give the scoreline a more accurate reflection of how the game went.

There was one change to the side that won convincingly at Turriff during the week, with Kevin McHattie coming in for skipper Iain Davidson.

City came flying out the traps and won a corner within the opening minute which was headed over by Paton from Kucheriavyi’s delivery.

It wouldn’t be long before the home side opened the scoring on 8 minutes. A cross from Marc Scott was cleared only as far as MICHAEL PATON who controlled the ball before lashing an unstoppable volley into the corner from 20 yards.

Five minutes later, Scott fired just wide of goal whilst both Milne and Paton had efforts which flew over the bar. A searching ball from Thomson then found Scott out on the right wing and he came inside before curling an effort at goal which was gathered down low by the trialist goalkeeper.

Shortly after the half hour mark City were claiming for a penalty when Cammie Ross went down under the challenge of the keeper, however he was adjudged to have gone down too easily by referee Chris Fordyce who showed the City attacker a yellow card.

On 35 minutes Inglis came inside from the right wing and let fly with a deflected effort which looked destined for the net, however the keeper somehow got a hand to it to keep it out.

Inglis would threaten again when his header from a Cammie Ross delivery ended up on the roof of the net and shortly before the break, Kucheriavyi weaved his way into the box before being denied by the keeper at the near post.

Manager Andy Kirk switched things up at the break as Garry Wood replaced Cammie Ross upfront.

The visitors first and only real opportunity of the game arrived within seconds of the restart when Brodie Allen slammed into the side netting from close range.

Despite this scare, City got the second goal that they craved on 49 minutes. GARRY WOOD didn’t take long to make an impact after coming on as he latched onto a flighted ball over the top from Scott and held off the challenge of a defender to fire into the far corner.

Wood continued to cause problems for the visitors defence and his header from Bain’s cross was palmed away by the keeper for a corner. Five minutes later, Wood then had a shot deflected wide.

The trialist goalkeeper was keeping the scoreline down and he was called into action again shortly after the half hour mark to push a low shot from Inglis onto the post.

With quarter of an hour remaining, Kucheriavyi had a free kick deflected wide before Garry Wood forced the keeper into another fine save after meeting a corner with a header.

With the visitors beginning to tire after some sustained pressure, City managed to add three goals in the final five minutes to give a more accurate reflection of their dominance throughout.

DAVID COX, who was introduced to the action for Julian Wade midway through the second half, got himself on the scoresheet. Wood did well to hold the ball up inside the box and he teed up Coxy who placed the ball into the corner.

Barely a minute later, DAVID COX had his second goal and truth be told it came via a calamity of errors in the visitors back line which allowed him to slot into an empty net from a few yards out.

As the game entered stoppage time, City put the cherry on the cake with a fifth goal. A well worked move which originated with keeper Jack Wills ended with MAX KUCHERIAVYI bursting into the box and rifling the ball low under the keeper to round off the scoring.

Overall, another excellent performance and result for City with attention now turning to a crucial Scottish Cup 3rd round tie against Darvel at Glebe Park a week on Monday (29th November).