Nairn County cruised to victory at Forres on Saturday thanks to three second-half goals.
An Alan Pollock strike sandwiched between a double from Irishman Conor Gethins sealed the points for Les Fridge’s men.
Mechanics manager Charlie Rowley admitted the better side had won.
He said: “Nairn County probably merited their win but for an hour there was very little between the two sides.
“Their opener came from a mistake by ourselves.
“Gethins was well offside but was not involved in the first phase of play and they were able to capitalise and take the lead.
“Nairn have what we haven’t at the moment, unfortunately, a natural goal-scorer in Gethins.
“Obviously, we are disappointed but with seven players out we really are short in terms of depth in the squad.”
Nairn manager Fridge said: “We were quite comfortable throughout the game and when we scored the first goal we definitely looked like going on to take the points.
“Our third goal came from a great free kick from Conor but all three goals we good ones.
“I know Forres were shouting for offside at the opener, but when the ball came off their defender Gethins did what he does best and lobbed the ball over Stuart Knight into the net.”
After a goalless first half the visitors opened the scoring in the 66th minute when Gethins beat Knight all ends up with a delightful chip with the Forres faithful looking for an offside decision.
Six minutes later Pollock doubled County’s advantage with a superb solo effort and 10 minutes from time reigning Highland League player of the year Gethins added the gloss with a brilliantly taken free kick for his second goal of the afternoon and his 24th of the season.