Inverurie Locos surrendered a two-goal lead against Forres Mechanics to draw 2-2 and drop vital Highland League points.
The Railwaymen were two goals to the good against the Can-Cans inside 30 minutes at Harlaw Park, via a Ryan Broadhurst header and Kieran Shanks penalty, but Paul Brindle strikes either side of half-time saw Forres leave Aberdeenshire with a share of the spoils.
Inverurie boss Richard Hastings admitted he was hurting after the result, which saw his team drop to fifth and came following the midweek high of beating league leaders Fraserburgh in the Shire Shield.
He said: “I’m disappointed about the manner in which we conceded the goals, which was very unlike us.
“We banged the door down at the other end, but fair play to Forres Mechanics – they defended their box with everything they’ve got.
“On a different day we could have won, but we have to be better. There’s things we need to look at in terms of varying our crosses and movement. We kept going to the end, but it wasn’t to be.
“There were elements I was pleased with, but we now know we have to win even more games than I thought we would have to.”
It all started so well for Hastings’ side in the second minute, with Broadhurst flicking a Calum Dingwall free-kick past Stuart Knight.
Just before the half hour, they were fortunate to be awarded a penalty after Robert Ward had cut in from the left and his shot hit the arm of Owen Paterson at point-blank range. Shanks confidently converted.
Brindle reduced the deficit four minutes later, with his close-range header beating Andy Reid.
Within four minutes of the restart, the scores were level, with Brindle doing the damage again. A breakaway from a Locos attack saw the former Brora striker hold off two opponents and drill into the corner of the net.
It became anyone’s game to win – Forres’ Lee Fraser and then Inverurie’s Mark Souter firing thunderbolts off the top of the respective crossbars.
But, despite Locos’ desperation to get the winner with wave after wave of attacks, it was not to be.
Deputising for unavailable manager Charlie Rowley, Forres assistant manager Nathan Sharp felt the Mechanics had earned their point.
He said: “We defended very well, but we had a few chances of our own.
“I watched Locos on Wednesday and was really impressed with them in their win over Fraserburgh. I don’t think they were at their best this time, but we’ve been struggling to get results, so confidence has been low.
“We told our players to just have a go. The manager has been driving into the players we have players to hurt teams and Brindle took his goals well.
“We were perhaps lucky with blocks around our box, but we more than matched them and our two very young full-backs stood up pretty well.”
Speysiders overcome stubborn Vale with three second half goals
Rothes stepped up the gears in the second half at Mackessack Park to earn the points over Deveronvale after the Banff outfit had put in a spirited first half performance.
Both teams had chances in a goalless opening period, but Rothes broke the deadlock three minutes into the second half when Fraser Robertson found space 25 yards from goal to fire the ball over Vale keeper Sean McIntosh, who was off his line.
Innes McKay was denied an equaliser when his spectacular shot from the edge of the box was pushed on to the underside of the bar by debutant home keeper Iain Mackenzie.
And it was then Rothes who scored again, as Jack Brown found space in the box to net from eight yards after 63 minutes.
The same player completed the scoring, as he powered past the challenge of two Vale defenders to finish from 10 yards with nine minutes remaining.
Rothes manager Ross Jack was determined to see his side bounce back from their disappointing display against Brora and said it took until the second half to get a foothold in the game.
He said: “We looked really decent in the first 10 minutes and looked up for it, but we couldn’t control the ball after that as Vale competed well, but we sorted things out at the break and getting the early goal settled us down.
“Ross Gunn is a great little player who has came through the Caley Thistle youth ranks before being released and he is an old fashioned winger who wants to try and beat people to create chances, while Iain Mackenzie did really well in goal on his debut, making an important save when we were just one ahead.”
Vale manager Craig Stewart said it was a sore result to take as they had been the better team in the first half and thought going in at half-time level was disappointing.
He said: “We didn’t come out for the second half and lost an early goal when our keeper should have done better, while we should also have shut down the space before their player had the opportunity to score.
“The second goal was also disappointing from our point of view, while the last goal didn’t really make much difference to the result.
“Rothes got to grips with the game in the second half and, if we are to take a positive from the game, it is how we played in the first half against a very good side who are proving difficult to beat this season.”
