A 90th-minute Alan Pollock equaliser earned Rothes a 2-2 home draw with Banks o’ Dee and their first point of the Breedon Highland League season.
The Speysiders led at the interval through an early Gary Kerr strike, but second half goals from Dee’s Michael Philipson and substitute Scott Milne looked like leaving Rothes pointless – until Pollock’s last-gasp leveller.
Rothes boss Ross Jack said: “I thought we could have been further ahead at half-time with the chances we had, especially Alan Pollock’s effort which came back off the post.
“They pinned us back in the second half when the wind got up, that’s for sure, but if we had taken our chances in that first half, it would have been a different story.”
The Speysiders opened the scoring in the ninth minute, when Liam McDade played the ball across goal and Kerr clipped it past Andy Shearer into the far corner of the Dee net.
At the other end, Dee’s Mark Gilmour should have done better than fire into the side netting with only Sean McCarthy in the Rothes goal to beat.
In the 41st minute, it really should have been 2-0 when Kerr played in Pollock, but his curling 20-yard drive clattered off the upright before being booted to safety.
Six minutes after the restart, Dee were back on level terms when Philipson fired home a volley from six yards, giving McCarthy no chance.
Five minutes later, only a brilliant flying save from McCarthy stopped Hamish Macleod’s 20-yarder from giving the Aberdeen side the lead.
Shortly after, McCarthy did even better to brilliantly turn a point-blank effort from Chris Antoniazzi over the crossbar as the visitors pressed for a second goal.
With eight minutes to go, Dee did take the lead via a flashing 18-yard drive from substitute Milne.
Rothes equalised in the 90th minute when Pollock’s 12-yard drive found its way through a forest of legs and beyond Shearer.
Banks o’ Dee co-manager Paul Lawson felt that his side had been hard done by, and said: “It was definitely a case of two points dropped for us today, I think we definitely deserved all three points.
“I felt that we were the better side.
“Don’t get me wrong, Ross Jack sets up his team with a back five and they’re difficult to break down, so we knew it was going to be difficult, especially when we went behind.
“But I thought the boys showed great character to get back in the game before we deservedly took the lead through young Scott Milne.”
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