Experienced Keith attacker Michael Ewen was delighted with his hat-trick in the Maroons’ 7-2 home win against Fort William on Saturday.
The 30-year-old former Dufftown, Rothes, Huntly, Turriff United and Formartine United forward took this term’s tally to eight goals with his treble, one of them from the penalty spot.
It was his third goal, in the 65th minute, which gave the former Keith captain the most pleasure, when he said: “Donnie Fraser played the ball through, I spotted the Fort William goalkeeper off his line and curled it high over his head into the top corner.
“I scored a hat-trick for Keith last year, my first for the club, in the New Year derby against Huntly which we won 6-2.
“Over the 11 seasons I’ve been in the Highland League I’ve scored quite a few hat-tricks.”
Ewen is well-placed to judge the young talent in the Keith squad and said: “This is my third season at Keith and since I arrived we have been bringing the youngsters through.
“As one of the oldest players in the side it is really good to see them being given a chance and watching the youngsters progress, and being able to help them along the way.
“I’ve been impressed by the likes of our leading scorer Luke Barbour, who has 12 goals this season, and another talented young player in Craig Cormack, who made both our goals in the 5-2 defeat at Formartine last Wednesday.
“Craig is a big, strong lad who is still really young, he still has a lot of growing to do and when he does he’ll be an excellent player and I enjoy passing on all my knowledge and experience to them.”