Keith battled back from a goal down to draw 1-1 at Turriff United and claim their first point of the Breedon Highland League campaign.
Having fallen behind shortly after half-time to an Aaron Reid strike, the Maroons then levelled through substitute Przemyslaw Nawrocki.
They then had to stand firm with 10 men for the final 11 minutes, after Luke Emmett was shown a straight red card for a needless reaction to a challenge from Turriff goalscorer Reid.
Keith manager Craig Ewen was pleased with his side’s reaction after going behind.
He said: “I thought in spells Turriff were the better side, especially in the first half, and we knew about the threat they have upfront, so it was disappointing to lose the goal from that as we had spoken about it before the game.
“We could have lost a second, but, fortunately for us, we created a goal when things didn’t look good for us and then we had a good spell when we could easily have scored again and – looking back – the fact that it was our first goal this season ignited the players, but overall a draw was probably just about right.
“The red card was silly, as the moment you lift your hands you are in trouble – but we dug in for for the final 10 minutes to claim our first point again a Turriff team who have improved.”
Turriff missed good chances in the first half as Ewen Clark was twice denied by Keith keeper Craig Reid, while Aaron Reid troubled the visitors all afternoon and broke the deadlock 12 minutes after the restart when he collected a pass from Callan Gray to fire into the postage stamp from 10 yards.
Keith substitute Nawrocki was only on the pitch for 30 seconds when he shot low beyond David Dey from 14 yards, after a through-ball caught out the home defence, after 65 minutes.
Turriff assistant manager Jamie Lennox felt his side had the best of the game, but felt their final ball wasn’t good enough throughout.
He said: “The final third of the pitch saw us try to force the ball too much, when we needed someone to play a simple pass to create chances, so it was disappointing as we have been really good the first two games of the season, when we competed well.
“We had really high hopes we could get the victory over Keith as these home games are the one we need to win over the course of the season as we look to finish further up the league than last season.
“Aaron Reid’s finish was superb and he has that in his locker and hopefully he can do that on a regular basis for us this season.”
Beyond Forres’ ‘wildest dreams’ to win 5-0 at Nairn
A hat-trick from teenager Shaun Morrison helped Forres Mechanics on their way to a thumping 5-0 win over Nairn County at Station Park.
Manager Steven MacDonald was full of praise for the striker – who is just 18 – after he bagged his first treble in senior football.
“He’s doing so well Shaun and has worked so hard in pre-season,” he said.
“It was in our consideration about putting him out on loan, but when Ben (Barron) got sent off last week, it was a good opportunity to start him. We thought his pace would cause Nairn problems and it worked well.
“I’m over the moon for him and it was a really good performance overall. It was beyond our wildest dreams to win 5-0.”
Forres took an early lead in the fifth minute when Ethan Cairns’ flick through was neatly slid underneath Nairn keeper Dylan MacLean by Morrison.
Ross County loanee Ryan MacLeman had the ball in the net again just five minutes later after Cairns’ shot had been parried – but he was adjudged to have been offside.
However, Mechanics only had to wait until the 18th minute to double their advantage, when Callum Johnston picked up a poor Nairn clearance and hammered a 25-yard effort into the bottom left-hand corner.
Cairns hit the bar from a Callum Johnston cutback after half an hour – before the ball went out for a corner which led to the third goal, with Connall Ewan bulletting home a header from six yards.
It was 4-0 within 60 seconds when MacLean dropped Andy Skinner’s cross into the path of Morrison, who knocked into the empty net.
Nairn went close to pulling a goal back before the end of the first half when Nathan Grant’s header came back off the post.
Morrison rounded off his memorable day 10 minutes after the break when he ran clear of the home defence before clipping in for his hat-trick.
MacLeman almost added his name to the scoresheet on the hour mark when he hit the post with a header, while Nairn had the ball in the net after a 72nd minute free-kick, but the flag was raised for offside.
County manager Ronnie Sharp said: “From start to finish, it was a terrible performance and the result took care of itself.
“I didn’t really see it coming after the first two games, but we just didn’t turn up at all and couldn’t compete with Forres.”
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