Lossiemouth manager Joe Russell saluted his side after they beat Fort William 2-0 to record their fourth Breedon Highland League win of the season.
Ryan Sewell’s first half penalty and Brodie Allen’s counter in the second period earned the Coasters the points at Grant Park.
Lossie are up to 12th in the table, but Fort remain rooted to the bottom with just one point.
Russell said: “We’re delighted to get the three points, Fort might be down at the bottom end of the table, but it’s always a tricky fixture and they make you work very hard.
“Our boys worked very hard and they got their just rewards with the second goal.
“It was a bit nervy up until we got the second goal, but once we got the second goal we were OK.
“I think we could have done a wee bit better in some of the games we’ve lost.
“But, from where we’ve come from to where we are now, I can’t complain, because we’ve picked up some points people wouldn’t have expected us to pick up.
“We want to turn Grant Park into a ground where teams don’t want to come and play, because they know how difficult we’ll make it.
“The boys did that and they’ve been doing it all season, which is tremendous.”
Lossie take their chances
It was Fort who had the first chance with Connor Moore breaking forward in the first minute before shooting wide from 20 yards.
But Lossie also burst into life, with Ross Morrison’s neat lay-off teeing up Allen, who curled just off target from the edge of the box.
In the eighth minute, Liam Archibald found Ross Elliott on the left side of the area and his low strike drifted just beyond the far post.
On 18 minutes, referee Gordon Morrison turned down strong Lossiemouth appeals for a penalty, with Allen going down under Moore’s challenge.
At the other end, Robbie Foster jinked his way into space in the box, but goalkeeper Oliver Kelly made a good block.
In the 39th minute, Fort were inches away from an opener with Darren’s Brew’s dipping shot from 25 yards tipped onto the crossbar by Kelly.
But two minutes later it was Lossiemouth who took the lead from the penalty spot, with Sewell finding the bottom left corner after Alexander White bundled Morrison over inside the box.
The start to the second half was a cagey affair with chances at a premium.
But Lossiemouth doubled their advantage after 64 minutes. Sub Ryan Stuart’s cross from the right picked out Allen and his diving header beat goalkeeper Matuesz Kulbacki.
After falling two behind, Fort William tried to commit more players forward, but they still found it difficult to carve opportunities.
On the counter, Lossie threatened to increase their lead with Sewell twice going close in the final 10 minutes.
Disappointment for Fort
Fort William first-team coach Tommylee Taylor said: “It’s frustrating, we showed Lossie far too much respect.
“The midfield were about five yards off the pace from the first whistle.
“We kept looking to go over the top and Lossie have two big, physical centre-backs and we were trying to go long and they were just collecting everything.
“We should have got the ball down and tried to play through the lines, which we’re good at, but instead we reverted back to type by going long and getting frustrated, which cost us.
“It’s frustrating at the moment with everything that’s going on behind the scenes.
“But the players have got to focus game to game. We’ve just come through a really important part of the season and we’ve only picked up one point.
“There’s no excuse – the players need to concentrate and deliver on the pitch.”
