Richard Hastings felt Inverurie Locos laid down a marker after blitzing Rothes in a one-sided Breedon Highland League encounter at Mackessack Park.
The Railwaymen prevailed 5-0 against the Speysiders, who finished with 10 men after goalkeeper Sean McCarthy was sent off.
Locos have taken seven points from their first three games, but manager Hastings felt this performance was a big improvement on their first two league outings.
He said: “We’re delighted – any time you score that amount of goals and keep a clean sheet you have to be delighted.
“We did a lot of work in training during the week and what we saw was much more like how I want us to play.
“The boys deserve the credit because they were brave, wanted to get on the ball and they cut Rothes open.
“It does feel like a step forward and to do it against a team that finished above us last season is also good.
“We’ve got a real drive to improve, we want to play football, be hard to play against and try to dominate in all areas.
“You have to start the campaign wanting to be up there challenging.
“We tailed off at the end of last season and to finish seventh was poor, we need to be in the hunt.
“Games like this are massive in that respect in terms of putting a marker down.
“I’m just pleased because the boys will take a lot of confidence and belief from it.”
Fast start seals the points
In an action-packed first 20 minutes, Inverurie struck three times, which basically secured victory.
But it was the hosts who had the first effort on goal in the second minute with Steven Mackay’s strike from 20 yards held by goalkeeper Andy Reid.
Locos opened the scoring on eight minutes with their first foray forward. The visitors packed the six-yard box for Calum Dingwall’s left-wing corner and his delivery to the front post was headed in by Garry Wood.
In response for the Speysiders, Mackay set up Gregg Main for a shot from the edge of the box with the deflected effort blocked by Reid’s legs.
Robert Ward had already had one effort held by McCarthy when he jinked in from the left to the edge of the box before lashing home a shot in the 16th minute.
Three minutes later, it was 3-0 when Lloyd Robertson surged from midfield and, with the Speysiders’ defence exposed, he teed up Matthew Petermann inside the area and he side-footed beyond McCarthy.
Things got worse for Rothes seven minutes into the second half with McCarthy sent off for handling outside the box. Reid’s long clearance had released Ward in behind the home defence and McCarthy misjudged the bounce of the ball and, after realising it was going to sail over his head, the custodian handled and referee Darren Munro brandished the red card.
There was no question about outcome of the contest, but Inverurie were keen to add more goals and they did on 58 minutes when Dingwall found the bottom left corner from 12 yards with a fine finish.
In the 72nd minute, Wood hit the crossbar with a penalty after Ryan McRitchie had tripped Ward.
On 88 minutes, Inverurie added a fifth when Wood’s cross from the right was headed in at the back post by Logan Johnstone.
Worst display of Jack’s tenure
Rothes boss Ross Jack said: “The players were warned about the set-play for the first goal, then Robert Ward does what he does by cutting in and smashing the ball in.
“But from then on we were absolutely woeful. We didn’t string two passes together after the first five minutes.
“We kept making mistakes and it kept breaking down, but we didn’t match Inverurie’s desire and hunger.
“They showed more appetite for the game than we did, which is sad to say.
“That’s definitely the worst performance since I’ve been at Rothes.
“There are a few things we need to stamp out and clear up, but we will learn from this and we will improve.”
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