Montrose 0 Cove Rangers 0

PROMOTION rivals Montrose and Cove Rangers played out an entertaining, but goalless, draw in windy conditions at Links Park.

The opening exchanges produced few chances of note, and it took until the 16th minute for either goalkeeper to be tested, Kerr Waddell hammering a 25-yard free kick straight at visiting goalkeeper Stuart McKenzie.

Aidan Quinn, Waddell’s central defensive partner in the absence of the suspended Sean Dillon, could have put Montrose ahead a minute later, but he was unable to apply the finishing touch when Cammy F Ballantyne crossed to the back post from wide on the left.

Mark Whatley fired over the bar in the 35th minute after turning his marker on the edge of the box, and Graham Webster had a low shot blocked at the near post by McKenzie after surging past Morgyn Neill two minutes later.

Whatley again came close in the dying minutes of the first half, but his shot was tipped over the crossbar by McKenzie.

Cove, boasting a number of experienced attacking players in their line-up, came close through Iain Vigurs in the 54th minute, but his shot from 20 yards out flew over the bar.

In a commanding midfield performance, Whatley was unlucky not to open the scoring in the 62nd minute when he carried the ball into the box and sent a low shot across goal, only for the ball to be hacked off the line at the back post by Neill.

Montrose goalkeeper Aaron Lennox pulled off a tremendous full-stretch diving save in the 65th minute to deny Finlay Robertson, the midfielder having looked to capitalise on a slip by Waddell.

Mitchell Megginson lobbed the ball over Lennox and the crossbar from the edge of the box in the 75th minute.

The best chance of the match fell to Terry Masson in the 76th minute after Webster broke down the right hand side. The ball dropped to Masson in the box, but he blasted over the crossbar from 12 yards out.

Match Report by Mark Rae

Team Lineups & Stats

21	Aaron Lennox	1	McKenzie
2	Cammy Ballantyne	2	Morgyn Neill
3	Andrew Steeves	3	Harry Milne
5	Kerr Waddell	5	Scott Ross
17	Aidan Quinn	6	Ryan Strachan
6	Terry Masson (c)	9	Mitch Megginson (c)
7	Graham Webster	10	Jamie Masson
20	Cammy F Ballantyne (s86)	13	Rory McAllister (s81)
9	James Keatings (s68)	16	Iain Vigurs
10	Lewis Milne	18	Finlay Robertson (s71)
15	Mark Whatley	24	Fraser Fyvie (s80)
4	Matty Allan	4	Connor Scully
8	Ross Campbell	8	Blair Yule (s71)
22	Craig Brown	11	Leighton McIntosh
16	Craig Johnston (s68)	15	Jevan Anderson
12	Chris Antoniazzi	17	Ola Adeyemo (s81)
11	Blair Lyons (s86)	20	Robbie Leitch (s80)
1	Allan Fleming (GK)	23	Kyle Gourlay