Formartine United recorded a third successive home victory in the league over Huntly to move up to seventh with a 5-1 win.
Formartine player-manager Paul Lawson was pleased to see his side end a run of three league games without a win.
He said: “It’s been a good week for us with reaching a cup final midweek and it was important we won today after coming off the back of three straight defeats in the league.
“I thought we were excellent, first half especially. We’ve created chances and scored some good goals.
“Similar to the cup game against Huntly, we started well and got our noses in front and the players seemed to relax a bit.
“I’m maybe nit-picking but the second half, we still created chances but I was disappointed for us to lose a goal late on.”
With four minutes gone, midfielder Graeme Rodger broke the deadlock prodding in from close range following an Andrew Greig cross.
United doubled their lead nine minutes later. Full back Jonathan Crawford was given time and space 25 yards out and struck a great strike in off the crossbar.
Jonathan Smith increased the deficit with a close range finish after 28 minutes.
Andrew Greig made it four after an hour firing high into the net after the visiting defence failed to clear from a corner.
In the 71st minute, Formartine top scorer Jonathan Smith made in 10 goals in 13 games netting with a low drive following a quick counter attacking move.
With ten minutes left, Caiden Imbert-Thomas cut in from the wing and rifled a shot off the underside of the bar. There were claims the shot was over the line but the assistant referee kept his flag down.
Huntly grabbed a consolation in the 85th minute. Reece McKeown got in behind the home defence and delivered a low cross into the goalmouth for Imbert-Thomas to turn in his second of the season from close range.
Formartine United FC v Huntly FC
Breedon SHFL Match – 2021/22
Saturday, 11th September 2021 (15:00)TODAYS TEAMS: pic.twitter.com/dSh6BwHkK9
— Formartine United FC (@FormartineUtd) September 11, 2021
Huntly manager Allan Hale admitted conceding early goals was costly for his side.
He said: “We conceded two goals within the first 13 minutes and against a team of that quality you’re going to give yourself a mountain to climb.
“At 2-0 down, we had opportunities to pull a goal back but gave away a horrendous goal on the counter attack where we’ve got to defend the situation better.”
Lossiemouth 2-0 Keith
Lossiemouth leapfrogged opponents Keith with their victory in what was the 140th league encounter between the sides.
A goal inside the first two minutes followed by a decisive second strike just over the hour mark sealed a second successive win for the Coasters.
Lossiemouth manager Joe Russell said: “We deserved the win, the boys played really well. The early goal settled our nerves, and two wins in two games is good going.
“We defended well when we needed to and when Keith shoved three or four boys up top we weathered the storm.
“It was a really good second goal which Ross Morrison took really well. That was only his third game in the Highland League, and I’m chuffed for him, his overall play was good as well.”
DONE, AND LOSSIE WIN AGAIN! pic.twitter.com/hDk8LrTA2w
— Lossiemouth FC (@lossiemouthfc) September 11, 2021
The Maroons, with several players missing from their squad through injury and unavailability, found themselves trailing after a minute and 30 seconds.
They failed to clear the ball and home defender Dean Stewart had the simple task of sweeping home the opener from six yards.
Lossie looked the better side in the first half, and it wasn’t until four minutes from the break, that the visitors managed to force their first corner of the game. A lacklustre first half saw them produce one shot on target and one shot off target.
The visitors made a better fist of it in the second half and hit the side net and also fired a shot inches over the bar as they tried to get back into the game.
However, just as they were pushing forward, they were knocked back with 63 minutes played when Morrison clinically slotted the ball from 15 yards to seal the points.
Keith manager Craig Ewen said: “That’s another poor result, we didn’t start the game in the right manner.
“It’s been a trend since we came in, of not starting well for some reason, and we need to look at that.
“We moved the ball far too slowly in the first half, and didn’t create enough chances. Although we had guys out injured and others unavailable, it was still generally disappointing”.
