Forres Mechanics boss Charlie Rowley praised his team for an excellent performance as they swept away Keith 4-0 at Mosset Park on Saturday.
Two goals from Allan MacPhee plus strikes from Andrew Macrae and substitute Callum Johnston secured a comfortable win for the Forres side against a Keith team who failed to create many clear-cut chances.
Rowley was pleased his team made it two wins in a row following a poor start to the season.
He said: “I thought we were excellent. We took a wee bit of time to get used to their shape in the early stages but once we did, we dominated possession and were easy on the eye, although I was disappointed that we were wasteful early on in the final third.”
Forres took the lead on 31 minutes following a contentious penalty, when Jordan Milne was fouled in the box by Jamie McAllister.
Macrae dispatched the penalty before MacPhee doubled their lead on the 38th minute, firing a heavily deflected shot in from the six yard box.
Forres started to dominate the game in the second half and quickly increased their lead with two goals after the interval.
New signing Johnston made an impact off the bench as the youngster scored with almost his first touch, with MacPhee’s cross being hit goal-wards by Martin Groat and despite an excellent save by Greg Simpson, Johnston knocked in the rebound.
The fourth goal came from a great through ball from substitute Aaron Hamilton, whose pin-point pass found MacPhee perfectly in the box and he hammered home to make it 4-0.
With Keith boss Dean Donaldson suspended from the dug-out after being sent off against Turriff, assistants Michael Brown and Jamie Lennox managed the team and were bitterly disappointed.
Lennox said: “We huffed and puffed and did not play particularly well and allowed them too much time and space on the ball.
“You can see by the scoreline that they punished us and although we did OK in spells, ultimately we were not good enough.”