Match Preview | Brechin City v Berwick Rangers

August 7, 2026

Brechin City return to the Carnegie Fuels Stadium at Glebe Park tomorrow afternoon for our first home Lowland League East fixture of the season as we welcome Berwick Rangers.

Having opened the campaign with back-to-back away trips, Andy Kirk’s side will be eager to make home advantage count and build on last weekend’s impressive 2-1 victory over fellow title hopefuls Bonnyrigg Rose. It will also be the third former SPFL club City have faced in the league already this season, following encounters with East Stirlingshire and Bonnyrigg.

Berwick Rangers, who finished 8th in the Lowland League last season, make the trip to Angus looking to record their first league win of the campaign. After beginning the season with a 1-1 draw away to Lochee United, Kevin Haynes’ side suffered a 2-0 home defeat to Hill of Beath Hawthorn at Shielfield last week.

TEAM NEWS

City will likely have the same squad to work with as last week and will continue to be without the services of Spencer Moreland, Kieran Inglis, Kyle Bell, Adam Hutchinson and Corey Kirk.

MANAGERS COMMENTS

Looking back at the win over Bonnyrigg last weekend, Manager Andy Kirk said, “We needed a result to pick them up after dropping points on the Wednesday. I thought on the day we were unfortunate not to score another couple of goals but to go down to Bonnyrigg, which is a tough place to go against a good team and pick up a result like that is fantastic.

“When you go a goal down you wonder how we’re going to react to that because we’ve had some setbacks of late but full credit to the boys as they got themselves back into the game quite quickly and from that point we looked dangerous when we attacked. With a bit more composure and better decision-making we could have put ourselves further ahead.

“There were some great bits of defending – we showed a togetherness to keep competing to the end for the win and threw our bodies on the line and that’s what pleased me most. Hopefully we can take confidence from that. Having Sparky back was great as he is a leader for us on the pitch and he competes and brings aggression which rubs off on the other players.”

There was a controversial offside decision in the second half when City had a great 2 on 1 opportunity to score. Andy added, “Mitch is two yards in his own half and the defender is about 6 yards in his own half – everyone gets things wrong but it’s not even close and that’s the worrying thing. The linesman was adamant that he got it right and these are important decisions. It didn’t end up hurting us on the day but these type of decisions can cost you at the end of the season. It was disappointing as it was a great chance to put ourselves 3-1 ahead and make it a little easier for us in the latter stages.”

Looking ahead to our first home league game of the season tomorrow, Andy said, “At this stage of the season following a tough pre-season and Premier Sports Cup campaign we just need to group together and get our level of performance a bit more consistent. We’ve managed to train twice this week which is great as we’ve not been able to train a lot with the fixtures we’ve had. We’re still missing a number of players but we’re at home and we want to put in a display that gives us a chance to win the game.”

ADMISSION INFORMATION

Tomorrow’s match kicks off at 3pm. Admission prices are £12 for adults, £8 concessions (Aged 65+, students and 16/17 year olds) and £5 for U16’s. Season tickets are valid. Digital tickets should be purchased at the following link – PURCHASE TICKETS

A cash/card gate will be available however supporters are advised to purchase their tickets in advance on fanbase.

CITY CLUB BAR

The City Club bar at the ground will be open to all supporters from 1:30pm and again following the match.

MATCH OFFICIALS

Tomorrow’s match referee is Tayler Martin, assisted by Ruaraidh Garnes & Shaun Telford.

LAST TIME OUT

City claimed an impressive 2-1 victory away to fellow title hopefuls Bonnyrigg Rose at New Dundas Park last Saturday. The hosts made the brighter start and took an early lead through Billy King, but City responded superbly. Brad McKay restored parity before Darren Watson completed the turnaroundin the first half as Andy Kirk’s side secured a valuable win against one of the teams expected to challenge at the top end of the table.

Berwick Rangers were in East of Scotland Qualifying Cup action in midweek, easing into the next round with a convincing 4-0 victory over Linton Hotspur at Shielfield Park. Kevin Haynes’ side will now turn their attention back to league duty, where they will be looking to bounce back from a 2-0 home defeat to newly promoted Hill of Beath Hawthorn in their last Lowland League East outing.

PREVIOUS MEETING

Brechin City 5-0 Berwick Rangers | 22 March 2008

You have to go back 18 years for the last meeting between the sides as City ran out comfortable winners over the Wee Gers who suffered relegation at the end of the season. First half goals from Darren Smith and Adam Nelson had City on their way with second half strikes from John Ward, Charlie King and Calum Smith adding gloss to the win.