Peterhead co-manager Jordon Brown was delighted as his side cruised to a 6-0 victory over Elgin City at Balmoor.
The home side made a fast start with Scott Ross scoring after only two minutes, before Rory McAllister netted his first goal since returning to the Blue Toon by making it 2-0 in the fourth minute.
Kieran Shanks added a third on 53rd minutes before defender Ross secured his brace with a header just before the hour mark.
He was not the only Blue Toon player to bag a brace in the win as Shanks converted an 82nd minute penalty to make it 5-0.
Shanks also bagged an assist as he teed up substitute Hamish Ritchie, who headed home to make it 6-0 in the dying embers.
The emphatic victory over Elgin is Peterhead’s fourth successive win in all competitions and their third on the spin in League Two, where they now sit top after Stenhousemuir drew with Clyde.
Blue Toon co-boss Brown said: “I’m definitely delighted. We asked the boys to go out there and to see if we could get early goal and we get two in the first four minutes.
“After that I think it went a bit flat and Elgin had a decent reaction, but at half-time we reload again and try to get on them.
“We know we like shooting down the way here and with a bit of wind behind us – the guys were different class.
“We asked them to be ruthless and a bit more clinical than we have been, and we got that. We identified set-pieces before and we score three from set-pieces.
“The substitutes come on when I thought the game was going through a bit off a lull at 4-0 and really have an impact. All round, it was brilliant.”
Brown believes his side have sent out a warning to the other League Two sides with the emphatic win which sent them to the top of the table.
He added: “It puts a target on our on our backs if there wasn’t one there already.
“We have to keep going now. We’ve got our targets and a target of finishing top after the first quarter of fixtures – and we’ve given ourselves a really good chance to go and do that against Forfar next week.”
McAllister opens Peterhead account… again
The Blue Toon created a good chance inside the opening seconds when Jack Brown received the ball from McAlister before finding Kieran Shanks, who saw his effort blocked inside the box.
The early lead arrived for Peterhead when Ross buried the ball beyond Elgin goalkeeper Thomas McHale after getting on the end of a Joe McKee free-kick.
It was 2-0 after only four minutes as McKee whipped in another free-kick, this time from the left flank, which was met by the head of an unmarked McAllister at the back post.
Elgin had seen very little of the ball during the opening stages, but registered their first chance after 10 minutes with Liam Harvey’s blocked effort inside the box.
The Black and Whites should have pulled a goal back when Ryan MacLeman did well to burst through the Peterhead defence and get a shot away, but his close-range strike hit the side-netting.
Some lovely footwork from Conor O’Keefe saw the Peterhead midfielder play McAllister through on goal, but he took the ball too wide and it ran out of play for a goal-kick.
McAllister had another opportunity to bag his brace as he linked up with O’Keefe again, this time with a lofted ball, but the striker couldn’t make contact with the ball at the back post.
Peterhead captain Jason Brown had a chance to make it 3-0 when the ball fell to him after a stramash from a corner, however, he scooped his effort over the crossbar.
On the stroke of half-time, Andy McCarthy thought had had given the Blue Toon a three-goal cushion, but his strike from a few yards was diverted onto the side-netting by a vital Elgin deflection.
Peterhead started on the front foot after the interval with McAllister sending an early powerful shot just over the crossbar.
The home side didn’t have to wait too long to add a third though as Shanks found the back of the net in the 53rd minute after twisting and turning to beat his Elgin marker inside the box.
Ross scored his second of the day and Peterhead’s fourth as he headed home another delivery from McKee, this time from a corner.
Elgin’s best chance to pull a goal back came when MacLeman rounded Stuart McKenzie, but the Peterhead goalkeeper somehow managed to get a touch to push his effort round the post – with Ben Barron frustrated at his team-mate after he was waiting unmarked only a couple yards out from goal.
The Blue Toon were awarded a penalty after Hamish Ritchie was brought down by Blair McKenzie, and Shanks buried the spot-kick to make it 5-0.
Shanks teed up Ritchie from the byline in the final minute of the match as the second-half substitute scored in his third successive game with a header to make it 6-0.
Player ratings
Peterhead (4-4-2): McKenzie 6, Jason Brown 6, Ross 7 (Goldie 64), R Strachan 6 (Armstrong 70), D Strachan 6, O’Keefe 7, McKee 7 (Ward 64), McCarthy 7, Jack Brown 6 (Ritchie 67), Shanks 8, McAllister 7 (Reid 64)
Subs not used: Oluyemi, Wood, Jordon Brown
Elgin City (4-4-1-1): McHale 5, Cooney 6 (MacInnes 76), Dolzanski 5, Ewan 5 (Barron 46), Cairns 5 (Draper 46), Dingwall 6, MacEwan 5, McKenzie 5, MacLeman 5, Cameron 6, Harvey 5
Subs not used: King
Player of the match: Kieran Shanks
Attendance: 687
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