Buckie Thistle were made to battle hard for the points, maintaining their 100% record and staying at the top of the Breedon Highland League table thanks to a come-from-behind 3-1 victory at home to Forres Mechanics.
Buckie overturned Forres’ second-minute opener from Dylan Lawrence via a second-half double from substitute Josh Peters and a late Max Barry strike.
Unusually, the keepers who lined up on Wednesday night both played for the opposition last season – with long-time Mechanics goalie Stuart Knight in goal for Buckie and his opposite number, Lee Herbert, now between the sticks for the Mechanics.
Forres opened the scoring early when Lawrence finished off a sweeping move with a crisp 10-yard finish.
On the quarter-hour mark, Barry saw his fierce drive from the edge of the box clatter back off the crossbar with Herbert beaten.
On the stroke of half-time, Herbert did really well to stop a point-blank Jack Murray effort as Buckie searched for a leveller.
Buckie drew level in the 63rd minute, Andy MacAskill fed Peters and the substitute rounded Herbert before stroking the ball home from eight yards.
In the 75th minute, Buckie took the lead. Forres failed to clear their lines and Peters lashed the ball into the roof of the net from 10 yards on the angle for his second goal of the night.
With 10 minutes to go, Barry flicked home a Darryl McHardy cross from six yards to end any hopes of a Mechanics comeback.
Early goal enough for Turriff United to claims points at Deveronvale
Turriff United bounced back from a couple of defeats to get back on to the winning trail with Ewan Clark’s early goal proving to be the difference between the visitors and hosts Deveronvale.
Turra started at a fast pace with John Allan robbing Harry Noble on the left and, from his pull back, Andrew Watt hit the bar from 10 yards.
Watt was then denied on eight minutes when Jaydan Bradford cleared the midfielders netbound effort off the line.
A goal was coming for Turriff and it arrived after 12 minutes when Allan won the ball from Bradford to find Clark in the box and he rounded Vale goalie Sean McIntosh to net from close range.
Mike Watson fired wide with Vale’s first chance before Scott Thompson saw a looping header palmed over the bar by David Dey.
Noble then picked out Thompson in the box and Vale’s recent signing was again denied by a flying save from Dey just before the break.
Turriff started quickly again in the second period and saw Clark again net from close range – but the strike was chalked off as the striker was in an offside position.
Callan Gray then went past a couple of players in the Vale box and went down under a challenge from Noble, but referee Kevin Buchanan ruled the challenge legal and play was waved on.
Vale lost inspirational defender Innes McKay with what looked like a hamstring injury with 20 minutes remaining as play was becoming a bit ragged, with some late challenges creeping into what had been an entertaining derby encounter.
The Banffers could have levelled with seven minutes remaining when Thompson found the side netting with a header from a corner, but it was United who claimed the points.
Foster’s goal wins it for Huntly v Lossiemouth
A Robbie Foster strike at the start of the second half proved to be the difference-maker as Huntly edged out Lossiemouth 2-1 at Christie Park and maintained their unbeaten start to the Breedon Highland League campaign.
Huntly made one change from the team who exited the Highland League Cup to Inverurie Locos on Saturday, with Lewis Crosbie coming in for Cameron Heslop, while Lossiemouth were unchanged from Saturday’s defeat to Formartine United.
With six minutes gone, Huntly’s Michael Dangana played in Foster and his effort was kept out by a fingertip save from Cameron Farquhar in the Lossie goal.
Seven minutes later, Andy Hunter slipped the ball in for Dangana, whose low shot was deflected by the post. Lyall Booth took the resultant corner, with Ross Still heading into the side-netting.
The best chance of the half for visitors Lossie came in the 41st minute when Ryan Stuart fired low past the post.
With fewer than 30 seconds of the half remaining, Booth curled in a corner from the right for Michael Clark to open his account for the season with a downward header and put Huntly 1-0 up.
Huntly doubled their lead four minutes into the second half when Brodie Allen played in from the left wing for Foster to turn in his second of the season at the front post.
Lossie keeper Farquhar kept his side in the game midway through the half, with two good saves in the matter of minutes to keep out Dangana.
And Lossie pulled one back in the 73rd minute when Dean Stewart curled a free-kick round the wall and into the net for his second in four games – but Huntly triumphed.
Wick score three late on to best Clachnacuddin
Wick Academy struck a late treble to get the better of Clachnacuddin at Harmsworth Park and secure their first Breedon Highland League victory of the campaign.
Clach boss Jordan Macdonald started returning Elgin City loanee Ben Cormack at the back in Caithness, after landing his signature earlier this week.
But veteran Richard Macadie would break the deadlock for the Scorries on 78 minutes.
Just two minutes later, Wick scored again via former Brora Rangers midfielder Ross Gunn, who made the points safe.
Wick player-boss Gary Manson subbed himself on in the dying embers of the match for a remarkable 700th club appearance, before Gunn added a third goal for the home side in injury time.
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