Nairn County ended their Highland League campaign on a high with a deserved victory at Mackessack Park.
County manager Ronnie Sharp said: “We played really well. We did the same thing against Inverurie Locos the week before but we couldn’t score that day.
“We controlled the while game and limited Rothes to just the one chance when our goalkeeper made a good save in the first 10 minutes. After that we were in control.
“Next week we are at home to Brora in the quarter-finals of the North Cup, that will be a really tough one.
“I’m not in favour of having the competition at this late stage of the season as quite a few of the players have holidays already booked. That certainly doesn’t help with team selection.”
Speysiders manager Steven MacDonald had no complaints and said: “Nairn were by far the better side, there was a massive gulf between the two sides and a 2-0 defeat definitely flattered us.
“It was as bad a performance as we’ve had since we took over at Rothes. I don’t know why, we did well to beat Wick 2-0 in the North Cup on Wednesday night and it’s a worry that maybe it has gone to the players’ heads a bit.
“We stopped working hard and fell well below our standards, but take nothing away from Nairn, I thought they were excellent.”
Two second-half goals within the space of seven minutes settled the issue. Dylan Mackenzie drove home a 53rd minute opener and on the hour Gary Kerr headed powerfully home from eight yards for County’s second and decisive goal.