Turriff United made it 10 goals without reply against Deveronvale in the Highland League this season, completing a league double over their near neighbours with a 6-0 win in Banff.
The visitors scored three goals in each half against a Vale side who had to play an hour a man down after Aaron Hamilton was shown a red card for a last man foul on Keir Smith inside the box.
Turriff manager Dean Donaldson was delighted with what his side produced in securing their first league points since October – which came the last time they beat Deveronvale. The result saw United leapfrog Strathspey Thistle and move up to 16th in the table.
Crucially, they are now 10 points clear of basement side Fort William in a season where there may be a relegation play-off for the team which finishes bottom.
Donaldson revealed the oldest player in his team was 23, with the youngest just 17.
He said “We haven’t had much luck over the past few weeks, but we deserved that as we worked hard and are starting to see the rebuilding job we have had to do over the past seven months give us some joy.
“People didn’t realise the job we had to do as there were only two or three players with Highland League experience in the side and it takes time to adapt to this league, but the foundation is there.
“I am not saying that we are going to play like that every week, but the big positive for me was the fact the team were more clinical in their finishing.”
Turriff went ahead after nine minutes through a fine Jack McKenzie finish, with Vale caught looking for an offside decision, and the visitors doubled their lead when Magnus Watson capitalised on poor defending to net from 10 yards after 26 minutes.
Hamilton committed a poor challenge on Smith inside the box three minutes later to see red and Smith took the opportunity to increase the Turra lead from the spot.
Three minutes after the break, Aaron Reid made it four with a volley from inside the box, before Smith added a fifth after 69 minutes with a composed finish from 10 yards as gaps appeared in the home defence.
Turriff were creating chances a plenty, but only took one more – Reid finishing four minutes from time.
Meanwhile, Vale’s only two shots on target came from substitute Rory Davidson in the latter stages.
Banffers coach Kevin Stewart said his players didn’t give themselves any chance to get a foothold in the game, with the only positive being the display of some of the youngsters making their debut.
He said “Losing the goals the way we did was horrendous, while Aaron Hamilton made a poor decision conceding the penalty as he didn’t need to make the challenge – and he knows he made the wrong decision and regrets it.
“When we went to 10 men we improved for a while, but it was a game we were looking to win and it was embarrassing.
“We are hurting, despite missing a number of injured players.”