Rothes eased into the last-eight of the North of Scotland Cup with a 3-0 victory over Forres Mechanics at Mosset Park.
A late first half strike from Alan Pollock, who came back to haunt his former club, put Rothes in the driving seat before Jack Brown added a second on the hour mark.
Skipper Bruce Milne made it three late on, meaning Ross Jack’s men will now host Elgin City in the quarter-finals, with the tie scheduled to be played on August 18.
Forres boss Charlie Rowley went into the match with a depleted squad which was minus six first team regulars.
Prior to the match both sets of players and supporters observed a minute’s silence in tribute to Rothes secretary Garry Davies, who died last week.
It was the Speysiders who carried the first goal threat, with Greg Morrison seeing his far post header from Pollock’s corner well clawed away by Stuart Knight.
The visitors continued to look the more threatening, but the Can-Cans rearguard stood firm to limit any clear openings.
Forres looked to probe on 23 minutes, with Owen Paterson unable to connect with an attempted strike from a Moray Taylor lay-off in a decent position.
It was from another set-piece that Rothes next threatened on 25 minutes, with Pollock’s corner eventually falling for Ben Johnstone whose snapshot produced another fine save around the post by Knight.
The Forres goalkeeper was in inspired form, with his best save of the evening coming four minutes later when he somehow tipped Craig Cormack’s header over the bar following a pinpoint Fraser Robertson delivery.
The Can-Cans burst into life on 33 minutes when an outstanding run through the Rothes defence by Taylor presented him with a sight of goal, with the forward desperately unfortunate to see his low effort come back off the inside of Sean McCarthy’s left-hand post.
Taylor had another opportunity just two minutes later after being released by Jack Grant’s clever flick, however the former Elgin City player dragged his effort wide of target.
Rothes spurned a fine chance of their own when Milne nodded a free header wide of target after being picked out by a deep delivery, while Allen MacKenzie struck the side netting from the edge of the box.
The Speysiders took a timely lead just a minute before the interval however, with Robertson teeing up the lively Pollock who showed good composure to sidefoot an effort past his former team-mate Knight.
That gave Rothes the advantage going into the second half, with Forres showing early intent when Callum Johnston turned before shooting straight at McCarthy.
Rothes could have given themselves more breathing space shortly afterwards, however Morrison was unable to get a connection on Cormack’s drilled delivery to the near post.
The visitors were not to be denied on the hour mark however, with the ball breaking for Brown inside the box to plant a crisp low strike beyond Knight to make Rothes’ passage to the next round all but safe.
There was time for a third goal, with Milne sending a sublime cushioned volley past Knight after Morrison’s delivery was partially cleared into his path.
