Banks o’Dee boss Jamie Watt felt his side deserve their place in the Aberdeenshire Cup semi-finals of a professional display to see off Inverurie Locos.
Goals in either half from Matt Robertson and Jack Henderson ensured the Dee will head to Bellslea in a fortnight’s time to face Fraserburgh in the last four.
Watt said: “I thought we controlled the game pretty well. Once we got a grip of how they set up, we got the goal and from the half-hour mark I felt we controlled the game.
“We never really looked in any danger. Locos going down to 10 helped us a bit but even 11-v-11, I felt we had enough. It was a professional performance so we’re very happy.
“There’s a lot of times we go play attacking, high-intensity games but last night we controlled the game.”
The performance of livewire midfielder Robert Armstrong caught the eye, as he set up Henderson’s goal and was a persistent threat to the Locos defence.
Watt added: “I joked to him after the game that he’d done so many good things but so many bad things as well. He’d go past players but then his final ball – on another night we could have had a few more off him because he was causing so many problems.”
They will have to face the challenge of Highland League high-flyers Fraserburgh in the semi-finals, after they disposed of Aberdeen University at Bellslea on Wednesday night.
Watt said: “They’re our old foes. I know Mark (Cowie, Fraserburgh manager) well and I’ve got a lot of time for him. They’ve got a cracking team up there. We know how hard a task that is – we played them in the Scottish Cup in January.
“It’ll be on the back of Linlithgow away on the Saturday (in the Scottish Cup). It’s the big games you want to be involved it in but it takes its toll. Both are away so it’s asking a lot of the boys.”