Banks o’ Dee co-manager Jamie Watt was pleased his maintained their strong home record after dismantling Vale of Leithen 6-1 in the Scottish Cup second preliminary round.
The Aberdeen Junior outfit thrashed the side sitting bottom of the Lowland League and showed their strength on the artificial pitch at Spain Park.
Watt, who is joint-boss along with Tommy Forbes, said: “It was pretty comfortable in the end. It was a bit of a strange game because I didn’t know too much about them.
“They were a young side that played with a lot of energy and played a high line which took us a bit of time to adjust to the way they played.
“Once we got to grips with it I thought we did really well and scored some good team goals.
“Playing at home on the pitch we have, we like to take the game to the other team. We’ve shown that plenty over the last few years, there’s not many teams come to Spain Park and fancy it.
“We’ve got a good record and we like to knock it about it we have some very good attacking players.
“I said to the boys before the game that you want to see where you can go and to get into the first round proper is the first step.”
Jack Henderson got Dee’s first after 10 minutes, finishing well after Michael Philipson’s cross from the left was dummied by Lachie MacLeod.
Hamish MacLeod hit the right post before netting the second in the 21st minute, finishing after latching onto Philipson’s through ball.
Philipson hit the other post before half-time and 40 seconds after the restart he set up the third with Mark Gilmour chesting down his corner and volleying into the top right corner.
Soon after it was 4-0 with Lachie MacLeod tapping home Greg Alexander’s cross from the left wing.
Banks o’ Dee netted their fifth on 55 minutes with Philipson getting the goal his performance deserved. Vale of Leithen goalkeeper Ben McGinley saved Hamish MacLeod’s effort but Philipson put away the rebound.
With 13 minutes remaining Philipson was again the provider with his low delivery from the right turned in by Lachie MacLeod. Vale of Leithen grabbed a consolation in the closing stages with Michael Robertson beating goalkeeper Lee Sweeney.
Huntly through, but Locos out
Elsewhere, Huntly got their first win of the season, and first victory under manager Allan Hale, defeating Lowland Dalbeattie Star 3-0 at Christie Park.
Gary McGowan and Reece McKeown had the Black and Golds two up at the break and McKeown got the third early in the second period. Dalbeattie had Steve Degnan sent off in the closing stages.
Huntly boss Hale said: “We’re delighted to get into the next round, I thought the players were outstanding to a man.
“We showed our qualities and showed we are a capable side against a Dalbeattie Star side who impressed me.
“It was good to get the first win and get that monkey off our back. There hasn’t been any pressure about the first win and I’ve felt we were on the right path and I think performances have been reasonably strong.
“We’ve seen good things in our performances and we felt it was just a matter of time before things clicked.”
Lowland League got the better of Highland League at the Falkirk Stadium with East Stirlingshire beating Inverurie Locos 5-0.
Sean Brown got a double with Jamie Dishington, Jordan Tapping and Nicky Low also on target.
Locos boss Andy Low said: “I can’t have any complaints in terms of the winner. It didn’t feel like a 5-0 game, but they were the clinical and the experience through their side showed and we’re disappointed.”