Cove Rangers 1

McAllister (2)

Peterhead 0

Peterhead could have had a day to forget at Cove Rangers as they lost a goal to a former favourite with less than two minutes played and then had two players dismissed before an hour had been played.

However the remaining players rallied and despite losing 1-0 they stuck to their task well and almost came up with a goal to rescue something from the game.

Jordon Brown made a quick-fire starting debut for Peterhead against hosts Cove Rangers with Ryan Conroy and Andrew McCarthy returning to action with Kyle Bailey and Gary Fraser dropping out of the matchday squad and Gary MacKenzie moving to the bench.

The game got off to a terrible start for the Blue Toon with a very familiar face being the worst kind of first-footer after just two minutes. With little more than 90 seconds played McCarthy was penalised for a foul on Mitch Megginson which Fraser Fyvie whipped into the area and Rory McAllister was there to head home.

The former Peterhead hero almost grabbed his second of the afternoon when he was through on goal on 10 minutes however Joshua Rae was able to block.

Peterhead’s hopes of getting back into the game quickly took a hit midway through the first half when Simon Ferry was shown a straight red card for a tackle on Megginson which despite Jason Brown being close in attendance was deemed to be denying a goal-scoring opportunity.

Rae helped his side out again on 36 minutes when he was able to push away a well-hit effort from Jamie Masson with the former Aberdeen midfielder heading over on 41 minutes.

As Cove continued to press another ex-Blue Toon player Leighton McIntosh sent an effort just wide however Steven Boyd gave the hosts something to think about three minutes from the break with a quick turn and shot that just cleared the bar.

Peterhead’s start to the second half was also damaging as Boyd picked up the second red card of the afternoon on 52 minutes after dissent towards referee Peter Stuart.

With 20 minutes left another familiar face Scott Ross had a chance against the nine men however his effort was scooped up by Rae.

Despite how the game had gone Peterhead kept on battling and remarkably they came close to an equaliser when the ball was worked to Alan Cook at the edge of his box and his low drive was pushed past for a corner by Cove goalkeeper Stuart McKenzie.

Ryan Conroy also hit a shot goalward from a free-kick in the hope of a leveller however McKenzie saved again.

Peterhead  – Rae, Freeman, Ferry, Jason Brown, Conroy, McCarthy, Scott Brown, Jordon Brown, Cameron, Cook, Boyd

Unused substitutes – MacKenzie, Kesson, Bakar, Wilson (G/k)