Third-placed Inverurie Locos blew away the euphoria Nairn County enjoyed from their shock home win over Brora Rangers with a 5-1 victory at Harlaw Park.
Locos boss Neil Cooper was full of praise for his team, who have won five of their opening six matches and are only three points behind leaders Fraserburgh. He said: “The movement of my front two, Neil Gauld and Chris Angus, was the best I’ve seen during my time at the club.
“The goals we scored were first class.
“Although we conceded an equaliser we never let it affect us. We recovered well and we could have netted four or five more but for the series of great saves by Dylan Maclean.
“We want players to perform with confidence and their passing was crisp and quick.”
Locos netted after only two minutes when Angus released Ryan Stott to drive down the left and cross perfectly for Gauld to score a rare goal with his head.
For a prolonged spell Maclean produced a series of top class saves and it gave his team the platform to produce a shock equaliser just after the half hour. Liam Shewan displayed great composure to work his way through the inside right channel and place the ball with aplomb inside Andy Reid’s right corner. Gauld fired high into the roof of the net to restore the lead in 42 minutes and he completed his hat-trick two minutes after the restart with an easy tap-in from another outstanding Stott cross.
The good work of Angus was rewarded with a goal of his own in 65 minutes with a clinical right-foot strike from 14 yards after Greg Mitchell had intercepted a loose pass then three minutes later he tucked the ball away with Gauld the provider.
Nairn boss Ronnie Sharp said: “We got schooled a bit by their front two who gave us a run around.
“Although we equalised we were beaten by a better side.
“But we’ve won four out of our first five games and our young team will learn from this.”
Clachnacuddin’s home match against Deveronvale and the meeting between Fort William and Wick Academy were both called off due to waterlogged pitches.