A stirring second half display saw Turriff United come from behind to beat Rothes 3-1 at the Haughs.
New Turriff boss Warren Cummings was delighted with the spirit shown by his side as he celebrated his first victory since replacing Dean Donaldson as manager.
Cummings said: “Obviously the most important thing was the three points but just as important for me was the performance.
“We expected that we would dominate possession and we did, but Rothes are a very stubborn team in the way they approach games, and it was doubly difficult when they went 1-0 up.
“The message at half-time was to continue what you are doing, but be better at it and we were little bit cleverer with the ball in the second half.”
Turriff fight back from half-time deficit to take the points
Rothes opened the scoring on the half hour mark when Aidan Wilson’s low cross from the right was prodded home from six yards by Fraser Robertson.
Turriff drew level in the 49th minute when Ewan Clark turned an effort which was going wide of the target past Rothes goalkeeper Sean McCarthy from six yards.
Five minutes later United went in front when Callan Gray set up Jack McKenzie after some slack Speysiders defending and he gave McCarthy no chance from six yards out.
With eight minutes to go Rothes skipper Michael Finnis was shown a second yellow card by referee Owen Lawrence for dissent.
Turriff made the most of their extra man advantage and in the final minute United substitute John Allan outpaced McDade and hammered the ball home from 12 yards.
Rothes boss Ross Jack felt aggrieved about Turriff’s equaliser at the start of the second half.
He said: “There was no doubt in my mind that it was a handball and he put it in with his arm.
“The referee said it had come off the player’s stomach and then his thigh which I find hard to believe.
“But we didn’t deserve anything in the second half.
“They came out hungrier, better, they put us under severe pressure and we just collapsed which was very poor.”
Lossie on the move after third win in a row
Lossiemouth made it three wins in a row as they edged out Keith at Grant Park.
Ryan Stuart scored the only goal of the game at Grant Park against a Maroons side which finished the game with 10 men following Liam Duncan’s dismissal.
Lossie boss Frank McGettrick was pleased with the outcome.
He said: “I’m happy with the three points, and three wins on the trot with three clean sheets.
“I thought we had the best of the first half, but Keith had the better of the second half.
“We could have been three or four up at half-time, but we made it hard for ourselves with the chances we missed.
“Credit though to Keith, they kept going in the second half and could easily have got a draw.
“Every point is precious for us, as there are no easy games in this league.”
‘No excuses for three-week layoff’
The only goal of the game came in the 28th minute when Ryan Stuart curled a shot from out on the left which took a slight deflection to beat Maroons goalkeeper Craig Reid.
Mikey Taylor clipped the post for Keith as they chased an equaliser but Maroons, playing their first game in three weeks, were reduced to 10-men five minutes from time when substitute Liam Duncan was sent-off for a second bookable offence.
Keith manager Craig Ewen said: “I make no excuses for having a three week layoff.
“I don’t think we played great. Lossie were half decent in the first half and deserved to be winning at half-time, but at the same time we’ve had a reasonable chance that hit the post and a goalbound header at the back post that hit our own player.
“It was one of those games where our quality going forward wasn’t good enough and we didn’t have the composure and guile to score.
“It was an arm wrestle which we lost.”
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