Formartine United boss Paul Lawson hailed Scott Lisle’s ‘different class’ opener after his side ran out 5-0 winners over Turriff United.
A string of saves from visiting goalkeeper David Dey ensured the scoreline didn’t become even more emphatic after Turra’s Ethan Smith was shown a straight red card following an exchange with the referee
Nevertheless, Lawson was delighted with his five goalscorers – with Lisle’s early lob singled out for special praise.
Lawson, whose side were 2-0 up at the break via Lisle and Ryan Spink’s quickfire strikes, said: “We created a lot of chances and I told the guys at half-time we needed to be a bit more ruthless.
“I thought we played really well in the first half, but it took us a wee while to get going again in the second half, and their red card gave us a little boost, having to play against 10 rather than 11 players.
“Jonny Smith has been on a good scoring run and he was desperate to stay on and get a goal, which he did from the penalty spot, but Scott Lisle’s goal was different class, a real bit of quality, to get us going.
“Over the piece we could have scored a few more, but you can’t complain after a 5-0 victory.”
Formartine’s early pressure paid off in the 16th minute when Lisle raced clear and, as Dey advanced from his goal, the former Strathspey Thistle and Brora Rangers winger sent a delightful 20-yard lob up and over the stranded keeper.
Two minutes later, the home side doubled their lead when Graeme Rodger’s long-range free-kick came off the base of the post and defender Spink was on-hand to ram home the rebound from six yards.
In the 44th minute, Turriff really should have pulled one back, but, with only Ewen Macdonald in the home goal to beat, youngster Kyle Buxton hooked the ball well over the top from six yards out.
Dey then stuck out a foot to deny Tyler Mykyta a goal four minutes later, but, in the 68th minute, Formartine did make it 3-0 – Hanratty supplying the clinical finish to effectively put the game to bed.
Before the game restarted, Turriff were reduced to 10-men when central defender Ethan Smith was dismissed by referee Liam Duncan, most probably for using foul and abusive language to the official.
Turriff boss Dean Donaldson was shown a yellow card for his reaction to the decision.
With 15 minutes to go, Mykyta clipped the ball past the helpless Dey from 15 yards to end any hope of a Turriff comeback.
Four minutes from time, Formartine were awarded a penalty kick when substitute Joey Wilson was bundled over in the box, and Jonny Smith sent Dey the wrong way from the spot.
A disappointed Donaldson said: “As soon as we lose a goal with the young boys, the heads go down and we tend to go on and lose another.
“Before Formartine scored, I thought we were right in the game for the first 10-15 minutes. We got the ball down and played some good football, and that led me to think that we were at it today.
“But as soon as that first goal went in all that changed and we fell out of it. We had a player sent off and I was yellow carded, purely due to frustration – as when you’re down near the bottom of the table, you just don’t get any breaks and it was the same again today.”
