Chris Angus netted five goals as Inverurie Locos cruised to a 7-0 victory against Turriff United.
The young United outfit had no answer to the powerful Angus, who also set up Neil McLean for the home side’s second goal.
Locos full-back Chris Herd was pleased to get the victory against his former side and felt his side dealt well with the challenging conditions.
He said: “It probably looked worse than it was but the wind was swirling about a bit.
“We dealt well with the conditions and we passed the ball well but credit to Turriff as they tried to play it out from the back. We managed to catch them on the break a few times and that was the difference.
“Chris was different class. He took his goals well. We definitely didn’t leave many chances out there today.”
Locos left Highland League top goalscorer Neil Gauld on the bench as he had been suffering with a chest infection, while Turriff United captain Cammy Bowden also started the game as a substitute.
Referee Dan McFarlane deserved praise for letting the game start, despite forecasts of wind gusts as strong as 50mph.
Locos took the lead in the sixth minute when Angus ran on to a Colin Charlesworth feed to clip the ball past Fraser Hobday in the United goal.
It was 2-0 to the home side in the 11th minute when Angus turned provider by playing in his captain McLean who made no mistake from 10 yards.
Turriff goalkeeper Hobday was almost caught out in the 27th minute by a huge goal-kick from his opposite number Andy Reid but the ball sailed wide of the upright, as a heavy shower of sleet engulfed the ground.
In the 38th minute Locos made it 3-0 when a poor headed clearance by Ross Anderson was picked up by Angus who fired it beyond Hobday from 12 yards.
In the 72nd minute Angus completed his hat-trick when he slid the ball under the advancing Hobday from 12 yards to make it 4-0.
Two minutes later Locos added another with a simple close-range tap-in from substitute Kyle Gordon.
Locos were in cruise control and in the 78th minute Angus ran through the middle of the United defence before slipping the ball through Hobday’s legs and gleefully hammering the ball into the unguarded net from a couple of yards.
With five minutes left Locos made it a magnificent seven when keeper Reid’s long clearance picked out Angus and the former Buckie Thistle striker notched his fifth goal of the afternoon with another composed finish.
Referee McFarlane impressed with his handling of the game in atrocious conditions, displaying great maturity as evidenced by the fact that there wasn’t a single booking in the game.
Disappointed United defender Ross Anderson said: “The conditions weren’t great but it was the same for both teams and Locos adapted to them better than we did.
“We tried to play football in the right way. We must have had 60 to 70% of the possession in the game but we also assisted Locos in all seven of their goals.”
INVERURIE LOCOS (4-4-2) – A. Reid 7, T. Reid 7, Herd 7, Watt 7, Crisp 7, Broadhurst 7, Charlesworth 7, McLean 7, Angus 9, Bolton 7 (Gordon 63), Mitchell 7. Subs not used: Duff, Gauld, Souter, Leyden, Cook.
TURRIFF UNITED (3-5-2) – Hobday 7, Cairns 7, Reid 7, Anderson 7, Chalmers 7, Strachan 7 (Grant 46), Cross 7, Stuart 7, Ewen 7, Taylor 7 (Brown 79), Ironside 7 (Smith 57). Subs not used: Ross, Bowden.
Referee – Dan McFarlane 8.
Attendance – 300.
Man of the match – Chris Angus.