Formartine United manager Stuart Anderson was delighted his side kept their unbeaten run going by beating Turriff United 2-1 in the Breedon Highland League.
The North Lodge Park side made the best possible start after taking the lead through Kieran Adams on four minutes, before Paul Campbell added another on the seventh minute.
Turriff pulled a goal back two minutes before half-time as Liam Cheyne whipped in a free-kick that set-up midfielder Keir Smith up for scoring to make it 2-1.
Formartine’s win over Turriff extends their unbeaten run to 11 games, as they remain undefeated since the turn of the year.
Anderson said: “We knew it would be a very tricky game, Turriff are a very good side that’s full of good young players.
“We probably could’ve been out of sight with the chances we had in the first half because when you go 2-0 up quickly you want to add to it, but it was one of those nights.
“The boys did well to get the win, so we’re delighted to get another three points on the board and it keeps our run going.
“There were probably people watching us tonight to see how we would react to dropping points against Forres (1-1 draw) and I think we reacted well. Now we’ll think about Wick on Saturday, which will be another tough game.”
Formartine take commanding lead before Turra half the deficit
Formartine’s opener came from a free-kick after Mark Gallagher was hauled down. Daniel Park whipped in the set-piece and Adams found the back of the net with a powerful header from close range.
It was 2-0 after Julian Wade powered down the right flank to beat Turra’s Liam Cheyne, before squaring the ball into the box which landed at the feet of Campbell.
The Formartine forward was unmarked right on the penalty spot and calmly slotted the ball into the bottom corner beyond Turriff’s goalkeeper David Dey to make it 2-0.
There were other chances for Campbell, Graeme Rodger and Jonathan Crawford in the first half for Formartine, while Turra’s Ewan Clark and Jack McKenzie had the best efforts for the away side.
Turriff pulled a goal back to make it 2-1 as Smith found the back of the net after getting on the end of Cheyne’s free-kick that was whipped in from the right flank.
After the interval, Formartine’s Gallagher should’ve done better – and at least hit the target – as the home side hit Turra on the break, but he sent his effort the wrong side of the post.
‘We showed good character’
Turriff looked livelier in possession in the second half and should’ve made more of two free-kicks in quick succession, but the set-pieces were wasted and Dean Donaldson’s couldn’t find an equaliser from open play.
Manager Donaldson felt Turra left themselves with too big a task after going 2-0 down within the opening 10 minutes at North Lodge Park.
He said: “Against any team in this league, you can’t give them a 2-0 start. Especially against Formartine who are on a really good run right now.
“We’re disappointed with that and Formartine probably could’ve scored more. But we could’ve scored more too, I don’t think any team were ever in proper control of the game.
“I’m disappointed we lost the game, but we showed good character to get the goal back when we were 2-0 down in the first half.
“We need to dust ourselves down now because we’ve got another big game (against Strathspey Thistle) on Saturday.”
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