Banks o’ Dee won the Evening Express Aberdeenshire Cup for the first time in their history with a 4-1 victory over Formartine United in the 125th final at Harlaw Park.
First half goals from Mark Gilmour, Marc Young and Michael Philipson put the Junior side in command.
Although Formartine pulled one back in the second half they could not mount a comeback with Jamie Buglass netting Dee’s fourth late on.
Dee start on the front foot
It was Dee who had the first chance on three minutes with Michael Philipson’s neat flick setting up Mark Gilmour in the box but his low shot was saved by United goalkeeper Ewen Macdonald.
At the other end Graeme Rodger’s powerful strike from 20 yards was held by goalkeeper Lee Sweeney.
Philipson, playing off striker Lachie MacLeod, was a major threat for the Junior side and he came close in the 13th minute.
After twisting away from Jonny Crawford Philipson’s shot was blocked but his follow-up header was looping in until Rodger got back to clear off the goal line.
Shortly after Philipson found a pocket of space on the edge of the area and fed MacLeod who curled narrowly wide.
It continued to be Banks o’ Dee who did much of the probing with MacDonald making a block at close quarters to thwart MacLeod and then Gilmour volleyed the rebound just over.
Shortly before the half hour mark Formartine had another effort with Tyler Mykyta’s free-kick from 20 yards bouncing just beyond the left post.
On 34 minutes Dee took the lead with Dean Lawrie’s free-kick from the left headed home by Gilmour.
Shortly after Gilmour almost added a second with his overhead kick from a long throw-in parried clear by Macdonald.
But in the 37th minute it was 2-0 to Banks o’ Dee with Rob Armstrong breaking down the left flank and playing a low ball across for Marc Young to fire into the net.
A minute before half-time Banks o’ Dee had one hand on the silverware when they added their third.
Formartine failed to clear Rob Armstrong’s cross from the left and when it broke back to Philipson just inside the box he swept a low right-footed finish into the bottom right corner.
It was only Macdonald that stopped Dee adding a fourth when he saved after MacLeod broke through one on one from Winton’s pass.
Things get worse for Formartine
If Formartine were to make a comeback it would have ranked alongside any in the long and illustrious history of the Aberdeenshire Cup.
However, there were no immediate signs of it happening at the start of the second half.
MacAskill shot over and then in the 57th minute United’s Daniel Park was given a straight red card by referee Scott Leslie for a challenge on Armstrong.
Seconds later custodian Macdonald saved Formartine again with a block from Philipson after he rolled Stuart Anderson in the area.
Formartine did pull a goal back midway through the second half when Kevin Hanratty’s cross was scrambled home by sub Aaron Norris from close range.
Minutes later Scott Lisle dragged a shot wide from the left side of the area as United looked for a second goal to set up a grandstand finish.
In the closing stages Formartine threw more players forward and Banks o’ Dee had chances to add to the scoreline, but it remained 3-1.
In the closing stages Formartine threw more players forward but in the 90th minute Banks o’ Dee made it four with sub Buglass racing through on goal before producing a cool finish.