News

It was the Harry Milne show as we overcame the Blue Toon in a highly entertaining cinch League One encounter at Balmoral Stadium.

Left-back Milne was absolutely outstanding, scoring twice and almost claiming another, setting up two goals and proving a constant pest to Peterhead with his marauding runs down the wing.

The fact he overshadowed Rory McAllister and Mitch Megginson also scoring to bring their personally goal tallies for the campaign to 19 each underlined just how good Milne’s performance was.

Match sponsors Lockton LLP agreed, they rightly awarded the defender man-of-the-match for the huge part he played in helping us extend our unbeaten run in the league to 18 games.

Peterhead deserve credit for also being very attack-minded to ensure the match was cracking entertainment for the 819 crowd.

The fact four of the seven goals were scored inside the first 20 minutes helped.

Our first came from a seventh minute penalty, awarded when Milne was tripped by Scott Brown as he broke into the penalty area.

McALLISTER stroked the ball almost casually beyond the reach of keeper Brett Long to net what was also his 16th in the league, which means he is the top scorer in the division as well.

It was 2-0 in the 10th minute, when Fraser Fyvie played a delightful pass through to MEGGINSON, who had timed his run perfectly to run on, sidestep the advancing Long, and lash the ball into the net from 16-yards.

Peterhead served notice they were still a danger when Hamish Ritchie lashed a 22-yard shot over the bar in the 12th minute.

Milne went off on another run a minute later, to get on the end of a pass from Iain Vigurs to hit a low shot that was held by Long.

The Blue Toon were back in it when former Cove Rangers player RITCHIE scored a screamer in the 15th minute.

The midfielder picked the ball up just outside the penalty area, out on the Peterhead left, then unleashed a rocket of a shot that gave Stuart McKenzie no chance.

We restored our two goal lead in the 20th minute from a move that was begun by Connor Scully finding Milne with an impressive cross field pass.

His cross back into the area was knocked out into the path of MEGGINSON and he battered the ball home from 14-yards.

It was anyone’s guess what the final scoreline would be at that stage as the chances came thick and fast.

Megginson played a clever one-two with McAllister, but his final shot lacked power and was easily saved by Long.

Milne’s next cross also reached Megginson and his shot, from a tight angle on the left, was parried to safety by Long.

Fyvie then laid the ball off to Milne, but his ambitious left foot volley went off target.

The half ended with Scott Ross feeding the ball up to Milne and when he crossed to McAllister the striker was unlucky to see his toe-poke from 12-yards go inches wide.

MILNE gave us the perfect start to the second half by making it 4-1 in the 47th minute.

He pounced on a clever lay-off from Blair Yule then kept his composure to place his shot, from the edge of the six yard box, beyond the reach of Long.

Mark Reynolds tried to get in on the scoring act on the hour, but his 18-yard shot from a cut-back by Fyvie flew well over the bar.

We swept forward again almost immediately and when Megginson rolled the ball to Scully his lob from the edge of the area bounced off the top of the Peterhead crossbar before going behind.

The excitement continued with Megginson and Fyvie combining to get the ball to Milne and his low shot sped across the face of the Peterhead goal before going narrowly wide.

Peterhead got some respite from the pressure in the 66th minute when Andrew McDonald warmed McKenzie’s hands with a powerful 20-yard shot.

MILNE capped his perfect afternoon by making it 5-1 in the 76th minute.

Megginson set him up with a well timed cut-back from the right and the left back did the rest with a crisp finish into the bottom corner.

Slack defending helped Peterhead pull a goal back in the 83rd minute.

Reynolds was short with a pass-back to McKenzie and the keeper’s clearance rebounded off Russell McLEAN, who then ran through to lash the ball into the empty net from close range.

Substitute Ola Adeyemo saw an 18-yard shot on the turn saved by Long with a couple of minutes left.

The game almost had the perfect finale when a sweeping move ended with Milne attempting to exchange passes with Kai Fotheringham at the edge of the Peterhead area, but he was denied the chance of a hat-trick by a well timed tackle from a defender.

COVE RANGERS: McKenzie, Neill, Milne, Scully, Ross, Yule, Megginson (Adeyemo 80), McAllister (Fotheringham 80), Vigurs, Fyvie (Leitch 80), Reynolds.

Subs: Masson, McIntosh, Gourlay.

PETERHEAD: Long, Cairns, Quitongo (Cook 89), McDonald, Want, McCarthy (Duffy 87), Ritchie, S Brown (Fraser 75), McLean, Savoury (Conroy 75), Jack Brown (Jordon Brown 75).

Subs: Cullen.

Referee: Gavin Duncan.

Article Copyright © 2022. Permission to use quotations from this article online is only granted subject to appropriate source credit and hyperlink to www.coverangersfc.com.

Matchday 28 Gallery | Peterhead (H) »