Strikers hold the aces in title race for Brora Rangers
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DALE Gillespie believes the potency of Brora Rangers’ twin strikeforce can be crucial in carrying Brora Rangers’ title challenge to the wire this season.
The Cattachs’ midfield powerhouse pointed to the form of Andy Macrae and Jordan MacRae as a huge source of encouragement in efforts to crank up the pressure on leaders Brechin City.
With Huntly at Christie Park next up, the Brora playmaker is seeking to build to momentum.
Macrae has hit 19 and MacRae 14 goals so far – a fine pre-winter return.
“Andy is scoring a lot of goals and, for a striker, that’s the most important thing,” Gillespie stressed.
“The good thing is he’s scored some good finishes, but also what I’d class as scrappy goals. Nobody really cares if they are worldies or five-yard tap-ins.
“He’s been doing well. He probably knows himself that the bit he can improve on is the stuff outside the box, his link-up play, but in the last few weeks that’s improved as well.
“To be fair, Jordan has been playing well too, just without the goals in the last few games.
“But the most important thing is for strikers to score goals and they’ve both done that this season.
“When we had our big success eight or nine years ago, Steven Mackay and Zander Sutherland up front could guarantee at least 30 goals a season apiece.
“That makes a huge difference, to be honest. It helps everyone else, taking the pressure off the defence.
“From that point of view, we couldn’t ask for more from either Andy or Jordan.”
Brora sit three points behind the favourites, with one extra game played, and could require a near-flawless run through to the New Year to be certain of staying firmly in touch at the top.
The Sutherland men won’t face genuine title contenders until late January’s home fixture against Formartine.
During that period, Andy Kirk’s relentless Brechin side will have to see off Buckie Thistle, Banks O’ Dee twice and champions Fraserburgh.
In the three games Brora have dropped points this season – a 2-1 defeat to Formartine, a 2-2 draw at Fraserburgh and a 3-0 home beating from Brechin – Gillespie feels luck has deserted them.
“In general, I think the level of performance has been quite decent. Overall, we’re pretty happy, winning the North of Scotland Cup too,” the 33-year-old stressed.
“Getting a trophy early in the season feeds into the league campaign. Since the Brechin defeat, we’ve scored a lot of goals and the performances on top of that have been really good. That’s the most pleasing thing.
“Going forward, we know ourselves we can’t really afford to drop any more points and fall further behind.
“We have to take every game very seriously and look to win every one we can.
“From past experience, if we can get to February or March still within touching distance then we’ll have a terrific chance of winning the league.”
