Brechin City 1 v Keith 1
LATE PENALTY BLOW FOR MAROONS
Well, this was a bitter pill for Keith to swallow on Wednesday night when they seemed to be heading for their first ever Highland League win at Glebe Park against title challengers Brechin City. Leading with a Nathan McKeown 27th minute rasping drive, and just over five minutes stoppage time showing on the clock home substitute Craig Tosh was adjudged to have been upended inside a crowded Keith penalty area. Sharpshooter Grady McGrath made no mistake with the resultant spot kick, and in the ensuing melee, Craig Reid got his marching orders.
Make no mistake, although the draw stretched the unbeaten league run to five games, it almost felt like a defeat, especially the way the game had been panning out, a real hammer blow to be perfectly honest.
Bad enough not getting what would probably have been a deserved win, but we had a double whammy with the weather conditions – leaving Kynoch Park at 4pm, and horrendous road conditions on the way back up the road meant this intrepid Reporter didn’t get back hame until 1.45am.
Anyway, back to the game, with the Maroons giving their high flying hosts a run for their money. Mind you they had goalie Reid to thank when he got down quickly to paw away Euan Spark’s powerful downward header in the 18th minute.
Nine minutes later, the homesters were rocked on their heels when wee buzzbomb Nathan McKeown latched onto a Horace Ormsby through ball, and showed the defence a clean pair of heels before lashing a 20 yarder past the helpless Craig Hepburn for his 4th goal of the season. An absolute corker fae Nathan – up aff my seat like a bullet!
The Hedgemen did have the ball in the net with 39 minutes on the clock through Harry Craig only for the goal to be chalked off for offside. Then, in the dying seconds of the first half, wee Nathan almost replicated his goal, but his parting shot flew just over the bar.
Brechin would come out with all guns blazing after the break we thought, but Craig’s Commandos dealt admirably with any threat, although McGrath did rattle the crossbar midway through the half.
Reid had a couple of fine saves as time wore on, and the custodian produced an incredible stop seconds before the penalty incident. With his subsequent red card, and the Maroons having used up their second half substitution allocation, Jordan Cooper donned the goalie’s jersey for the remaining minute or so.
Yet again, the whole side stepped up to the mark, and despite being hugely irked at not gaining all three points, the single point hoisted the Maroons up another place to 12th.
KEITH – Reid, Craib, Barron (Addison 76), Bird, Spink, To, Ormsby (Searle 76), McKeown (Stephen 82), Cooper, C Robertson (R Robertson 88), Lynch. Subs unused – Paterson, Whyte, Killoh, Gill, Smith.
Referee – S Leslie
Wednesday 19th November 2025, KO 8pm
Report by Charlie Simpson