A 75th minute strike from substitute Lachie Macleod was enough to book crack Junior outfit Bank o’ Dee’s passage into the second round of the Scottish Cup.
Free-scoring Dee might have expected to run out more comfortable winners, but on the day Highland League United were extremely well-organised at the back and they defended resolutely throughout the 90 minutes.
After the game, Banks o’ Dee manager Jamie Watt admitted he had not been surprised by Turriff’s resolve, saying: “Turriff manager Dean Donaldson knows our team well and expected him to have his side set up well to frustrate us.
“It all panned out a little bit similar to how I thought it might. Turriff did their job well and they sat-in, making it difficult for us to play through them.
“I always expected us to score a goal at some point in the game, but we were never able to cut them open, even though we grew into the game a little bit better in the second half.”
Both Dee and opponents Turriff United were more or less at full strength with Dee keeper Fraser Hobday lining up against his former club.
Dee dictated the early play at Spain Park, forcing a series of corner kicks without ever really troubling ex-Keith keeper David Dey in the United goal.
In the 22nd minute, Michael Philipson really should have opened the scoring for the home side, but he could only side foot the ball a yard wide of the upright from six yards out.
In the first minute of the second half, Dey did well to block a well-struck Robert Armstrong angled drive as Dee picked up where they left off in the first 45 minutes.
Lachie Macleod then thought he’d broken the deadlock, but somehow Dey twisted in mid-air to claw a net-bound header to safety.
With quarter of an hour to go, Turriff’s brave resistance came to an end when danger-man Macleod beat the diving Dey with a well-struck 12-yard low drive, much to the relief of the home fans.
United manager Donaldson was delighted by his young side’s application, and said: “Banks o’ Dee’s quality was really good, but we were able to suck up the pressure on a tough afternoon and to a man I’m proud of my young team.
“We weren’t expected to get anything from this tie, but on another day we might just have taken them to a replay. We just didn’t get that one chance we craved during the 90 minutes.
“Usually you do get one or two half-chances. Today that didn’t happen, but now I can see the progress this side are making, we are trying to get an understanding in the way we play, and week-on-week I think it’s getting there.”
