Brechin City maintained their position as Breedon Highland League leaders with a 5-0 win against a dogged Keith side.
The Maroons had to play the last half hour with 10 men after Lewis Coull received a second yellow card.
Grady McGrath led the way with a fine double and latest recruit Botti Biabi came off the bench to score.
Brechin manager Andy Kirk said: “It was a decent performance as well as a clean sheet and scoring five goals.
“There are always things you can do better, but there was a lot of good and positive play.
“I was pleased with a lot of elements in the game, and everyone on the pitch had a hand in the win.
“In the second half we tried to put right some of the things we maybe didn’t do in the first half, they are an honest bunch of players that want to do well.
“A couple of goals stood out, Grady’s (McGrath) first goal and Botti’s goal both came from good team moves.”
The Maroons had two early chances with Kieran Mooney and James Brownie going close, before a Euan Spark effort came back off the post at the other end.
However, the hosts broke the deadlock in the 19th minute when Anthony McDonald scored direct with a corner kick.
City doubled the lead with two minutes of the first half remaining when a perfect cross from Marc Scott saw McGrath head home at the back post.
City were awarded a spot kick on 57 minutes after Scott was toppled inside the box and Kieran Inglis fired home the penalty.
Three minutes later the visitors were reduced to ten men when Coull received a second yellow card. Barely a minute later substitute Biabi reacted quickly to stab home from close range.
Brechin went nap in the 77th minute when Keith failed to clear a corner and McGrath pounced to crash the ball high into the roof of the net.
Keith manager Craig Ewen said: “We’ll play worse this year and win, but they are at the top for a reason and the better team won.
“We had a couple of opportunities early on and you have to score at a place like this.
“Lewis Coull’s red card was a tough one to take as I don’t think his first one was a booking.”
Rothes 2-4 Buckie Thistle
Rothes battled back from 3-0 down at the break to push Buckie Thistle all the way in a six-goal Mackessack Park thriller.
Buckie boss Graeme Stewart said: “I thought Rothes were the better team throughout, they passed the ball better and were braver.
“Our first two goals came from Andy MacAskill’s brilliance but I was really annoyed at half-time and had a real go at them as Rothes were better and we shouldn’t have been 3-0 up.”
Rothes were behind within 60 seconds when Ben Johnstone tackled Andy MacAskill just inside the box and MacAskill converted from the spot.
On the quarter hour mark MacAskill scored again, running through unchallenged and ramming the ball past Sean McCarthy from six yards.
On the stroke of half-time Max Barry made it 3-0 for the Jags with a deflected 12-yard drive.
Two minutes after the break the Speysiders pulled one back, substitute Allen Mackenzie’s cross picked out Matheus Machado and the Brazilian thumped the ball past Balint Demus from eight yards.
Eight minutes later Rothes made it 3-2, Joe McCabe was caught in possession by Mackenzie, the ball broke to Machado and he beat Demus from 12 yards.
Aidan Wilson struck the Buckie bar before Rothes passed up a great chance to level, with only Demus to beat, substitute Jake Thomson fired yards wide.
In the final minute, Rothes were caught pressing for the equaliser and Kyle MacLeod turned the ball in from four yards.
Rothes manager Ross Jack said: “We started shockingly again, but that was never a penalty, not in a million years.
“Ben Johnstone put his foot between MacAskill’s feet and hooked the ball away, MacAskill goes down and the referee buys it – it was an absolute shocking decision to give a penalty.
“At their second one, MacAskill walked through our defence and scores a brilliant goal.
“After that penalty we were wary that the same could happen again if we put in a tackle, and their third goal came with a couple of deflections.
“We showed a great attitude in the second half, put them under pressure, and we had a great chance to make 3-3 late on but Jake Thomson stuck it past the post when clean through.”
Conversation