There was a sense of deja vu at North Lodge Park as Formartine United scored five goals for a second successive Saturday and Graeme Rodger repeated the hat-trick feat he achieved against Fort William.
Home manager Paul Lawson praised his players after their resounding win against Turriff United.
“Rodger was obviously outstanding again, a real driving force, but I also felt Liam Strachan was different class,” he said.
“We should have been further ahead than just two at half time.
“The wind played a huge part in the game and I thought we played better against it.
“Turriff had little flurries late in the first half, more down to our slack play when we got sloppy. After a wee chat at the break we put on a more professional performance.
“Conor Gethins was deserving of his start.
“He’s been knocking on the door with his performances coming off the bench.”
“We now get a break from league action with a League Cup meeting at Forres, which is never an easy place to go.”
The opener came in the 10th minute with Aaron Norris the architect. Left-back Christopher Fairley made a poor clearance and Gethins angled his right-footed effort away from the reach of Fraser Hobday.
Three minutes later Scott Lisle made the pinpoint pass left to Andrew Greig, whose square pass was knocked home by the in-form Rodger.
A third goal was disallowed for offside and Hobday produced a great save to deny Gethins.
The visitors searched for a way back into proceedings, with Keir Smith and Cammy Bowden powering in shots and Luke Kinsella passing up a gilt-edged chance before Kevin Main was lucky to escape a sending off after upending Robert Ward outside the box
The second half was more clear cut.
Goal number three came when Kieran Lawrence moved the ball forward to Lisle, who ran on and produced a sweet finish to beat Hobday. It was 4-0 within three minutes when Rodger beat the offside trap before sliding the ball under Hobday.
Rodger completed his hat-trick after 70 minutes in a move he started and finished.
He was substituted to a standing ovation.
Turriff boss Kris Hunter said: “Both first-half goals were avoidable but we came into it later in the first half and you wonder what may have been if Kevin Main had got a red instead of a yellow.
“I was disappointed with our second-half showing as too many players thought it would be easier with the wind at their backs. They stopped doing the things they’ve been doing well the past couple of weeks.”
