Craig Ewen hailed Keith’s 1-0 Breedon Highland League win against Formartine United as “fantastic”.
Kieran Mooney’s second half strike gave the Maroons victory at Kynoch Park against the side who were sitting second in the table at kick-off.
Keith boss Ewen said: “It’s a fantastic result for us, from minute one to minute 90 the players put in an incredible shift.
“It’s probably the best result we’ve had since we’ve been in charge.
“That’s the first time we’ve beaten a team which is competing at the top end of the league.
“I’ve got to take my hat off to the players, everyone stuck together and it was a massive team effort.
“It’s a great three points and I believe it’s the first time we’ve beaten Formartine at Kynoch Park in 10 years so it’s a fantastic result.”
In the first period Keith goalkeeper Craig Reid made good saves to turn away Jack MacIver’s strike from 25 yards and smother a Mark Gallagher effort when the midfielder broke through.
At the other end Mooney hit the crossbar with an effort from the edge of the box.
Just before the hour mark Mooney made the breakthrough when he raced in down the right side and beat goalkeeper Ewen Macdonald with a first time finish.
In the closing stages Cole Anderson found the net for Formartine following a penalty box scramble, but it was ruled out for offside.
United manager Stuart Anderson said: “There wasn’t much in the game, but Keith probably just shaded it.
“It’s a disappointing result for us but we’ve got to pick ourselves up and try to move forward again.
“You can’t win every game playing pretty football and we maybe overplayed at times.”
Wick Academy 0-8 Banks o’ Dee
Neil Gauld reached 350 career goals with a hat-trick in Banks o’ Dee’s 8-0 win over Wick Academy.
The Aberdeen outfit were dominant from the off at Harmsworth Park.
Captain Kane Winton fired them ahead from a corner in the first minute, before Lachie MacLeod doubled the advantage on 35 minutes.
Joe Anderson was sent off for Wick shortly after for lashing out at MacLeod. After the break Rob Armstrong made it 3-0 before Winton grabbed his second.
Striker Gauld – who has scored goals for Huntly, Inverurie Locos and Formartine United in the Highland League – netted a hat-trick in the space of four minutes and Winton added the eighth three minutes from time.
350 Highland League goals and still going ⚽️⚽️⚽️
— Neil Gauld (@NGauldy) September 3, 2022
Dee boss Jamie Watt said: “We were up against a team that hadn’t conceded a goal at home and won three out of three.
“But the intent we set out with from the first minute was excellent and we were brilliant.
“It was great to see Neil get his first hat-trick for the club and to reach 350 goals is a terrific achievement.
“We were annoyed we hadn’t got a win away from home yet so it’s good to get the monkey off our back.”
Wick player-manager Gary Manson added: “We started really badly giving away a goal after 45 seconds after taking kick-off.
“Coming up against a good side you can’t afford to do things like that.
“They were the better team throughout, there’s no doubt about that. I can’t complain about the result but the manner of it and the scoreline is the frustrating thing.
“We didn’t defend properly, we didn’t pass it properly, we didn’t do anything as we would expect or want to do.
“From the beginning until the end it was really bad, it was ridiculous really and absolutely everything went wrong.”
