It was Boxing Day thrills at Kynoch Park as East of Scotland League side Hill of Beath Hawthorn took Keith into extra time before the Maroons won an entertaining Scottish Cup first round game 4-2.
Keith co-manager Andy Roddie said: “We are delighted to be in the next round, although we made it hard for ourselves.
“These games are always sticky against lower league sides and Hill of Beath created a lot of chances, mainly made from our own mistakes.
“All credit to our boys though, they showed great character, and great spirit when behind.
“We didn’t panic and got them in at half-time and regrouped. We made an early second half change bringing on Craig MacAskill to get more wide play and he turned the game for us.
“Credit also to young Scott Gray, who came on and did excellent. That’s four wins on the trot and it’s a good winning habit.”
The Maroons looked to be on their way when captain Cammy Keith fired his side ahead after only 12 minutes.
However, it was all square five minutes later when Brandon Luke whipped a free kick into the roof of the net from the edge of the box.
Worse was to come for Keith when a failure to clear their lines saw Ryan Connolly pounce to rifle home nine minutes from the break.
An early second half substitution saw Macaskill come on to spark a revival, although home goalie Greg Simpson had to pull off a couple of fine saves to keep his side in the hunt.
Macaskill’s fellow substitute Gray was only on the field three minutes when he levelled matters, darting in to slam home from 10 yards to net Keith’s 100th Scottish Cup goal, and put the game into extra-time.
Two goals inside a minute in the first period of extra-time knocked the stuffing out of the visitors.
With 98 minutes on the clock, Mackaskill scored direct from a corner kick, then less than a minute later Michael Selfridge was on the spot to complete his side’s advance into today’s second round draw.
