Stranraer fell to second place in the league after being soundly beaten by Brechin City. This was Stranraer's first defeat in seven matches.

Brechin showed their dominance in the match early on, and in the sixth minute Greg Miller raced down the right wing and fired in a shot for Roddy Grant, but his header was off target.

Only a minute later the home side took the lead when a Jamie Smith shot was parried by Hillcoat, but only as far as the feet of Grant, who made no mistake from only a few yards out. Minutes later Chris Templeman's shot went wide with the Stranraer defense napping.

In the 12th minute Brechin almost score a bizarre goal when home 'keeper Mark Cairns blasted the ball deep into the Stranraer half from a drop kick. Hillcoats was off his line at the penalty spot and watched helplessly as the ball bounced in front of him and narrowly went wide of the Stranraer goal!

Brechin scored their second goal in the 25th minute when a Greg Miller cross from the left went beyond the Jamie Smith, but Derek Clark was well positioned to slam the ball past Hillcoat.

Stranraer were only spectators in the match and almost witnessed a third and fourth goal only three minutes after the second. Brechin's first effort started with a Greg Miller cutback to Chris Jackson, who drove the ball high towards the Blues' goal, only to see Hillcoat pull-off a great save. Two minutes later Miller combined with Clark, but this time the effort went wide.

With only six minutes of the half remaining, it was again Hillcoat who produced a finger tip save to tip the ball over the bar after Derek Clark tried a chip shot.

The second half started off well for the Blues, with the half-time pep talk firing up the team, and in the 51st minute Stevie Aitken almost pulled one back for the Blues. Ian Harty crossed to Aitken, but his powerful header went only inches wide of the upright.

In the 57th minute Stranraer were thrown a lifeline when they won a free-kick. Aitken's kick when through a ruck of players, and landed at the feet of Jamie Smith. Smith tried to clear without controlling the ball, and instead sliced the ball high into his own net.

The linesman came to Stranraer's aid in the 73rd minute when Chris Jackson thought he had scored. Hillcoat parried a Roddy Grant shot, and the ball fell to Jackson who scooped the ball into the net. However, the linesman deemed the player offside when the ball was struck.

With only four minutes of the match remaining Brechin put the result beyond doubt. Greg Miller cut the ball back to unmarked Charlie King, and the substituted knocked the ball goalward.

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Overall Summary- A very poor display from the Blues, the only bright spot from the match was that Brechin didn't score more goals. If Stranraer can not get their act together, then they might start the long slide down the league.

Attendance: 426