Saturday saw Scone travel to Davie Park to face Blairgowrie who were looking to bounce back from last weekends defeat to Dundee North End while Scone were looking to build off the back of a good result away to Coupar Angus. Gary Mackie continued to cover for Stephen Moon at right back while Sean Whitworth again played up front deputising for Aaron Carlon who was also unavailable. If Scone needed reminding not to be complacent they didn’t have to wait long as Blairgowrie nearly opened the scoring within 5 minutes with the first corner of the match when Matthew Adam saw his headed effort brilliantly cleared off the line by Gary Mackie standing on the far post. Darren Gray, making his first start for Scone came close 5 minutes later only for his effort to drift wide. Sean Whitworth & Kevin Sinclair both had further chances but were unable to beat Gordon O’Brien in goal for the hosts. As the first half drew to a close there was just time for one more chance & Adam again for the hosts will have been disappointed to see his effort hit the post on the stroke of half time. 

Half time score: Blairgowrie 0-0 Scone 

Scone looked to up the tempo in the second half and continued to pass the ball round well and catch Blair on the counter attack. The first chance fell to Gary Mackie in the 49th minute only to see his long range effort drift over the crossbar. Scone thought they had opened their account on 57 mins when Sean Whitworth headed into the net only for the goal to be ruled out for offside by referee Anthony Brown. The next chance fell to Ross Mitchell who’s dipping shot from the edge of the penalty area dropped just over the bar. Scone could sense a goal coming & 2 mins later Ross Mitchell found himself in a similar position & this time ran into the box only to be fouled by Mark McDonald who conceded a penalty. Sean Whitworth (sponsored by Stuart Bruce Painter & Steven & Yvonne Whitworth) stepped up to take the kick and despite O’Brien getting a hand to it was unable to stop Whitworth getting his 4th goal in 4 games. Josh Gorton was forced into a couple of saves at the other end as Blairgowrie fought to get back into the game. Scone made their 1st substitution on 83 minutes with Fraser MacDonald coming on for Ross Wilson. A minute later Max Avolio doubled Scone’s lead with a superbly taken goal beating the offside trap and drifting in from the right wing to calmly slot the ball past O’Brien and into the far corner. Callum Cocker -Tough then replaced Whitworth in the 87th minute & nearly immediately scored when he sprinted from the half way line with just the keeper to beat only for O’Brien to race out of his area to deny him. Cocker-Tough had another effort 2 minutes later when a pass meant for Avolio deflected back into his path only for his long range effort to fall comfortably for O’Brien. As Scone looked to see out the game David McPhee replaced Darren Gray and Scone finished the afternoon with all 3 points. 

Full time score: Blairgowrie 0-2 Scone 

Man of the match for Scone: Max Avolio who after a summer break is back with the squad and looked impressive on his return. After the match, manager Derek Lawson (sponsored by Lindsays Butcher & Ronnie McNeill – Painter/Tiler) told Jaggies TV. “ I’m delighted with the result, the performance was brilliant and the best we’ve played so far this season. Defensively we’re looking good and solid & we’ve got a good structure about us. Another clean sheet and having to play on the counter attack at times from back to front I’m very pleased the way they all linked up”