Cove stormed into the second round of the Morrison Motors (Turriff) Aberdeenshire Shield with a stunning 5-2 win against Formartine United at Allan Park last night.
Hamish Munro gave the visitors the lead but a double from Jamie McAllister and another from Daryl Nicol ensured Cove took a 3-1 lead into the interval.
Nicol netted two minutes into the second half and McAllister completed his hat-trick moments later to give Cove a commanding lead.
Callum Bagshaw pulled one back for Formartine but it was too little too late.
Cove made three changes to the side which defeated Clach 6-0 with former Formartine player Daniel Park, Dean Lawrie and Jamie McAllister stepping in for Barrie Stephen, Jonny Smith and former Don Chris Clark.
Steve Paterson’s side also showed two changes with Paul Napier and Hamish Munro replacing the injured Neil Mc-Vitie and the suspended Marek Madle.
Cove almost took the lead in the sixth minute when Connor Scully seized on Graham Hay’s wayward header and crossed for Daryl Nicol, but his first-time effort finished the wrong side of the post.
But it was Formartine who broke the deadlock in the 17th minute when the ball fell nicely for the unmarked Munro on the edge of the area and he powerfully drove the ball past the helpless Sandy Wood in the Cove goal.
However the lead lasted only four minutes with Cove forward Jamie McAllister heading home from close range to restore parity.
And Cove were in front only two minutes later when Nicol, who netted two at the weekend, coolly slotted the ball beyond Watson.
Formartine midfielder Callum Bagshaw was fortunate to only see yellow for a reckless challenge on Darryn Kelly before Cove scored their third after 36 minutes. This time Nicol provided the assist with a neat cut-back for McAllister who scrambled the ball home at the second attempt.
Formartine almost pulled one back on the stroke of half-time but Bagshaw’s long-range effort went wide.
Cove pushed further in front only two minutes after the restart when Nicol netted from close range to kill the game as a contest before the hosts added a fifth within 60 seconds.
McAllister completed his hat-trick by heading home a Scully free kick with the Formartine defence in disarray.
Formartine, to their credit, kept working hard and Bagshaw pulled a goal back after 65 minutes when he slid the ball under the goalkeeper, but the Allan Park men saw out the game with ease.