Keith hit bottom of the table Strathspey Thistle for six on Saturday with Kieran Mooney leading the way with the first Maroons hat-trick in three years.
The last Keith player to score a hat-trick was Cammy Keith when he hit four against the same opposition.
Stewart Hutcheon, in his testimonial season, converted a penalty for Keith’s final goal, and his first goal in four years to the very day.
Keith manager Craig Ewen said: “We needed to react to the last couple of games with a positive performance and we were pretty dominant from the first whistle.
“Some of our play and the goals we scored were pleasing on the eye.
“I don’t think that six goals flattered us at all, in fact we could have scored more.
“I’m delighted for the boys, they were well worthy of the comprehensive win.
“They were good all over the pitch and I was also pleased for Kieran Mooney – he works hard and deserved his hat-trick.”
Mooney set the ball rolling after only 10 minutes curling a superb shot into the top corner.
Then two quick fire goals from Keith co-captain Ryan Robertson and Matty Tough left the visitors chasing the game.
Twelve minutes after half-time Mooney slammed home a low drive to increase the lead before Strathspey got on the scoresheet through Aiden Cruickshank.
The home side continued to surge forward and Mooney completed his treble with a superb volley.
The striker was sent toppling inside the penalty area by Liam Grant in the 83rd minute, allowing Hutcheon to calmly tuck away the spot kick to complete the scoring.
Strathspey manager Charlie Brown said: “It was another hard lesson for the boys, a few of the goals came from set pieces.
“There really wasn’t any positives to take from the game. We need to start working as a team”.
Deveronvale 0-1 Rothes
An Aidan Wilson goal proved to be enough to give Rothes victory against Deveronvale at Princess Royal Park.
Rothes manager Ross Jack said: “It is not just the victory that I am pleased with it is the fact that we achieved it with our first clean sheet of the season.
“We had to work hard for the victory but our first half performance was excellent and their keeper made a couple of great saves which kept Vale in the game.
“We were pinned back in the second half and we had to defend stoutly which we did to get the win.”
Vale manager Craig Stewart said: “The first half was fairly even and we were sloppy in the way we lost the goal but we had chance after chance during the second half.
“We didn’t take them which was disappointing.
“The players put so much into the game and someone will be on the wrong end of a heavy defeat from us once we find our cutting edge.”
Former Ross County defender Ben Williamson made his first start for Rothes.
The only goal arrived 10 minutes before the break when Wilson curled the ball beyond Sean McIntosh.
Dane Ballard blasted over for Vale just after Harry Noble had two efforts blocked and Innes McKay saw a header hit the woodwork as Vale looked to get themselves level in the second half but it was to no avail.
Latest signing Ben Williamson with the Chairman
Ben came through the ranks at Ross County and had loan spells at Nairn and Brora last season. The 19 year old defender made his first start in yesterdays 1-0 win over Deveronvale.
Welcome to Rothes FC Ben!
🍊🟠⚫️ #MonTheSpeysiders pic.twitter.com/2CqIYWERkF— Rothes FC (@RothesFC) October 9, 2022
Huntly 3-1 Nairn
Huntly came from behind to defeat Nairn County 3-1 to stretch their unbeaten run to four games.
Allan Hale, the Huntly boss, said: “You’ve got to give credit to Nairn as I thought they were great the first 25 minutes.
“We were nervy after the first goal.
“Once we got the equaliser, we got a reaction we started to step up and got ourselves 2-1 up.
“It could’ve been more as we had another chance cleared off the line before half-time.
“We asked the players to maintain the same energy in the second half and it capped an excellent performance from our players.”
Nairn deservedly went ahead after 21 minutes. An Andrew Greig corner went through the hands of Euan Storrier and Conor Gethins gathered the ball before firing low towards the back post to score in successive games.
The momentum swung in Huntly’s favour with two goals in four minutes.
Gavin Elphinstone crossed for Ross Still who netted his first goal since returning to the club with a diving header.
Lyall Booth provided the delivery for the second on 37 minutes, picking out Andrew Hunter who took a shot on the turn to put his side ahead with his sixth of the season.
Huntly completed the scoring in the 68th minute. A Cameron Blacklock corner was partially cleared by the visiting defence before Adam Morris gathered the ball and sent in a dangerous cross to the back post for James Connelly to head in his second goal in three games.
Nairn boss Steven Mackay said: “I thought we started the game well, looked comfortable in possession and created chances.
“We deserved the lead after chances prior to that.
“Huntly got their goal from a cross which we needed to deal with better and that knocked the stuffing out of us. The confidence went and defensively we’re not taking care of business.”
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