Inverurie Locos came from two goals down to beat Keith 5-3 in a festive thriller at Harlaw Park, with the evergreen Neil Gauld coming off the bench to bag a second half hat-trick.
The result means Locos move up to second in the Breedon Highland League table, two points behind leaders Fraserburgh, although the Garioch side have played three games more.
Visitors Keith had been 3-1 up with half an hour to play, with Richard Hastings praising the spirit and character of his Inverurie players to turn the match in their favour.
He said: “I’m delighted to get the three points, to come back from the sucker punch of going 3-1 down a minute after we scored should give them great belief.
“It was good to see the players follow the instructions we gave them at half-time. They were brave on the ball and got into good positions.
“For Neil Gauld to come on get a hat-trick was tremendous for him and the team – it was going to take something like that to turn it round.”
Keith took the lead in the 24th minute when a low corner from Michael Selfridge was flicked on by Kieran Mooney and fired home by James Brownie from five yards.
Brownie grabbed his and Keith’s second 15 minutes later, smashing home a superbly controlled low volley from 20 yards.
The home side pulled one back on 58 minutes. A throw-in from the right broke to Lloyd Robertson and he drove a fine finish low into the net from 18 yards.
Keith instantly restored their two-goal lead, however. Selfridge as brought down in the box by Scott Coull and he stepped up to slot the penalty into the bottom left corner.
The visitors looked to be in a strong position entering the final third of the game.
But Robert Ward got one back for Locos with 20 minutes remaining, jinking inside from a partly cleared corner to rifle a shot beyond the unsighted Jamie Shingler from 22 yards.
Then Gauld was at his poaching best three minutes later to nod home Ross Still’s header across goal from close range and level the scores.
Gauld would put Locos in front for the first time on 76 minutes, with Shingler parrying a stinging drive from Ward and Gauld pouncing on the rebound to fire home his second.
Nathan Meres was sent off late on for Inverurie when he picked up a second yellow for blocking a Keith throw-in.
However, in injury time, Gauld completed his hat-trick with a fine volley from Ward’s dinked cross to the far post.
Neil GAULD has now netted Loco Works hat-tricks in ELEVEN different seasons. Today was hat-trick no 25. ⚽👍🔴⚫
— InverurieLocoWorksFC (@InverurieLocos) December 27, 2021
Keith boss Craig Ewen admitted it was a hard one to take, saying: “We had a tidy first half and looked quite comfortable at 2-0 up.
“Momentum for me is key in football and we were hoping we could see out the game after we got the penalty (to make it 3-1).
“Then the momentum swung back when we let Robert Ward inside to flash one in and all of a sudden we’re on the back foot.
“For 65 or 70 minutes, it felt like we were going to take something from a tough away ground – the players are going to have to learn from their mistakes.”