Rothes manager Fraser Bremner was overjoyed as his side’s hard-fought victory against Lossiemouth took them to 17 points.
The Speysiders’ win at Grant Park helped them leapfrog Deveronvale and Huntly into 14th place in the Highland League in process and Bremner was delighted with his side’s second-half showing.
The former Dufftown manager said: “I am a bit happier than I was at this stage last week after our 4-1 home defeat by Turriff, although the first half wasn’t the best game of football you’ll ever see.
“I can’t remember either side having a shot at goal.
“We changed a couple of things at half-time and our second-half performance was superb. We impressed going forward and we were solid at the back so we deserved our win.
“We have been dire in the four or five weeks when we’ve had some pretty humiliating defeats so for the players to bounce back after and produce a performance like that I’m over the moon.”
Bremner singled out match-winner James McLaren and skilful midfielder Sean Jennings for particular praise.
He said: “Sean was superb in the middle of the park.
“We have missed players like him in the last few weeks. We still had quite a few lads out today but Jennings, who has been away with his work for a month, came back in and was first class.
“As for James McLaren, he has been playing out wide quite a lot but in the second half we put him up-top and he, too, was superb.”
