Peterhead will face hosts Elgin City in the Final of the 100th Anniversary Tournament at Borough Briggs this afternoon with the game kicking off at 4.00pm.
The Blue Toon booked their place against The Black and Whites with a 5-4 penalty kick success over Inverurie Locos following a 1-1 draw over the 90 minutes with new boy Conor O’Keefe scoring at his former home to equalise for the Balmoor side. A Trialist goalkeeper shone in the shoot-out with three saves before a Trialist outfield player sealed progression against the Highland League side.
Peterhead started with Trialist A in goals with summer recruits Robbie McGale, Paul Dixon, O’Keefe and Ryan Dow also taking the field with David Wilson on the bench alongside trialists B to F. One of the potential new faces was Danny Strachan who is just waiting for the paperwork to be registered on his deal with the club.
With two minutes gone O’Keefe showed the electric pace he possesses as he darted past the Locos defence and picked out Jordon Brown with a cut-back however the player/ coach’s shot went wide of goal. Six minutes later Hamish Ritchie teed up Dow with the former Dunfermline man seeing his shot miss the target as well.
Peterhead were passing the ball around well however they suffered a shock on 31 minutes when they fell a goal behind when one-time Scottish Cup Finalist Garry Wood rose and headed home a corner. Losing a goal gave the Blue Toon a jolt and Ritchie came close to equalising almost immediately with a 25-yard effort that just cleared the Locos’ bar.
There was no further scoring before the break with Ritchie having the first chance after the restart after some good build-up play on the right however his effort was saved by Andy Reid. On 65 minutes Ritchie picked out Dow with a tempting cross and his header looked to be going in however it travelled agonisingly over. Dow was determined to get on the score-sheet and a long-range effort dipped just in front of Reid who did well to recover the situation at the expense of a corner.
A leveller arrived on 74 minutes when pressure from Ritchie forced the Locos defence into a mistake and O’Keefe was onto the ball in a flash and calmly slotted it into the net. Dow came closest to providing the winner with an 18-yard shot with four minutes left however the ball curled wide of goal.
Penalties were called for and Peterhead’s Trialist A saved Locos’ first two spot-kicks with Andrew McCarthy and Andrew McDonald netting. Locos scored their third and fourth kick with Paul Dixon making it 3-2 after Dow’s spot-kick was saved. It was 3-3 after Locos fifth penalty, and Peterhead’s after Jason Brown was denied, however Trialist A saved before an outfield trialist won the day.
Assistant manager David Nicholls interview – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSSaFxhO3sg&feature=youtu.be
Today’s line-up is –
Consolation Trophy (Midday Kick Off)
Fraserburgh v Inverurie Locos
Winners’ Trophy (4pm Kick Off)
Elgin City v Peterhead
Tickets / Streaming and all the information can be found here 100th Anniversary Tournament – https://www.elgincity.net/100th-anniversary-at-borough-briggs/tournament
