Buckie Thistle beat Banks o’ Dee 3-1 at Spain Park to move five points clear at the top of the Breedon Highland League.
The Jags fell behind to Lachie MacLeod’s goal in the third minute, but a brace from Andrew MacAskill either side of Josh Peters counter earned the visitors the points.
With Brechin City v Brora Rangers postponed due to frost Buckie are five points clear of the second-placed Hedgemen, who have two games in hand.
For the Aberdeen outfit this is only the second defeat they have suffered since Josh Winton and Paul Lawson took charge in January and they remain 14th in the table.
Early action
It was an all action start in front of a big crowd with Buckie having two chances in the first minutes.
MacAskill and Max Barry worked a short with the former’s delivery knocked wide by Joe McCabe at the back post.
Then Peters released Barry down the inside left channel, but he sliced his shot wide.
But in the third minute Banks o’ Dee took the lead with their first foray forward.
McCabe and Hamish Munro didn’t deal with a loose ball and Michael Philipson burst through on goal.
Jags goalkeeper Balint Demus saved the shot Lachie MacLeod was on hand to gather the rebound and finish.
Play raged from end to end and on eight minutes Thistle were close to equalising when Barry got in behind but his lob drifted wide with goalkeeper Andy Shearer beaten.
The game settled down a bit after a frenetic opening 10 minutes, Buckie continued to be the aggressors, but Dee were a handful on the counter-attack.
On 25 minutes the visitors restored parity. Max Barry won a free-kick on the edge of the area and with Dee expecting Jack Murray to have a shot he rolled the ball square for MacAskill, who curled a superb shot into the right corner.
Just after conceding Dee almost regained the lead with Matthew Wallace’s snap-shot from the edge of the box drifting wide.
The chances dried up somewhat but two minutes shy of half-time Buckie took the lead.
MacAskill’s shot from 20 yards was blocked by Peters, but the loose ball broke for Cohen Ramsay on the left side of the area and he cut the ball back for Peters to curl into the right corner from 15 yards.
Jags strike again
At the start of the second period the next goal was always likely to be crucial and within three minutes of the restart Buckie got it.
Hamis Munro’s long ball down the left channel created a 50-50 between Ramsay and goalkeeper Shearer. The Jags full-back got their first and was tripped by the custodian.
Referee Chris Fordyce pointed to the penalty spot and MacAskill – who missed in the shoot-out last weekend – sent Shearer the wrong way and found the bottom left corner.
In their quest to get back in the contest Banks o’ Dee co-managers Josh Winton and Paul Lawson introduced Neil Gauld from the bench.
But it continued to be the visitors who created the better openings. McCabe headed over from Ramsay’s left-wing cross.
Then at the end of another decent move McCabe’s ball back across goal somehow evaded Barry inside the six-yard box.
In the 71st minute Peters skipped away from Darryn Kelly on the right side of the area but Shearer blocked the shot. From the resultant corner Murray hooked a volley over the bar.
Magnus Watson and Max Alexander were also introduced as subs for Dee and with 11 minutes left they almost combined to pull a goal back.
Watson crossed from the right but Alexander was crowded out at the back post as he tried to force the ball into the net.