Huntly moved up to fourth with a 4-2 home win over Turriff United.
The Black and Golds raced into a three-goal lead within the opening six minutes but were made to work for the win.
Huntly boss Allan Hale said: “I think you’re never comfortable and you’ve got to give respect to the opponents.
“We had a tremendous start and we’ve got that in our locker to attack the space and we worked on that on Wednesday in training and the three goals came from the gameplan.
“After conceding the penalty we had to weather the storm and Turriff got a second goal which came from an error from us and an own goal.
“They were pushing for an equaliser and we managed to capitalise on the space left with Robbie (Foster) adding a fourth.”
Hale paid tribute to midfielder Ryan Sewell who played a part in three of the four goals.
He added: “He’s a top midfielder and in that first half he was the best player on the park and it was a great finish and great to see him making the right decisions to set-up the first two goals.”
With just over two minutes played, Ryan Sewell’s free kick was met by Ross Still. Still saw his header saved by David Dey in the Turriff goals before firing in a right-footed shot from the rebound.
Sewell created again in the fourth minute, threading a through ball for Robbie Foster to get behind the opposition defence and drill low into the net.
Midfielder Ryan Sewell scored his first goal for the club in our 4-2 win over Turriff United. pic.twitter.com/GL5RjTvDHM
— Huntly Football Club (@huntlyfc) September 10, 2023
After playing a part in the first two goals, Sewell won the ball 30 yards out and ran on before curling in a shot from the edge of the box for his first Huntly goal.
Turriff got the chance to pull a goal back after 33 minutes when Cameron Heslop was penalised for a handball. John Allan sent Fraser Hobday the wrong way for his fifth of the campaign.
United reduced the deficit in the 59th minute when Ross Still headed into his own net after the hosts failed to deal with a set piece.
Huntly added a fourth when Michael Dangana shrugged off a challenge and played in Robbie Foster who cut in from the left channel before drilling past the keeper.
Turriff boss Dean Donaldson said: “The first six minutes were cruel.
“Huntly came out and had a go. Following that we started to play better football and it was naïve the goals we lost. We could’ve done better with our own chances and needed better quality with crosses into the box.”
Lossiemouth 1-4 Nairn County
Nairn County made it back-to-back wins in the Highland League for the first time this season with a 4-1 victory against Lossiemouth at Grant Park.
The match was in the balance until “kamikaze” defending, early in the second half, turned it Nairn’s way.
Wee County manager Steven Mackay said: “It looks like a convincing win but it was far from it.
“In the first half we scored a goal from a great free-kick but then we gifted them a goal, which switched the momentum in their favour.
“We were under the cosh for the remainder of the first half.
“In the second half they gifted us an opportunity and Conor (Gethins) sticks it away, a great finish into the bottom corner.
“The next two goals were gifts. By the time it goes to 3-1 our confidence is high.
“We played some good stuff and could have had a couple of more goals – 4-1 flatters us a little but I’m delighted to get the win, because this is not an easy place to come.”
MacLeod on target again
Lossie started well but it was the visitors who took the lead in the 19th minute.
Andrew MacLeod, on-loan from Ross County, curled a free kick into the bottom right hand corner for his fourth goal in as many games.
The home side’s response was almost immediate. Jared Kennedy swung a high ball into a crowded penalty area and Dean Stewart’s header went in off the post for his fourth goal of the season.
Gethins was unlucky with a free kick in the 38th minute which rattled off the post before being cleared.
Two defensive blunders before the hour mark turned the match Nairn’s way.
The Lossie defence failed to clear a Ciaran Young delivery in the 54th minute and when the ball fell to Gethins he gleefully dispatched it into the net for a wonderful finish.
It was 3-1 five minutes later when Lossie defender Brodie Mitchell sliced an attempted clearance over the head of his own keeper Oliver Kelly to leave Gethins with a simplest of tasks of heading into an empty net from a yard out.
Stewart almost pulled one back in the 63rd minute but his header was tipped onto the bar and over by Nairn keeper Dylan MacLean.
To add to Lossie’s misery Kennedy redirected a cross from Nairn sub Tyler Eadie into his own net two minutes from the end.
Lossie boss Frank McGettrick said: “We started off really well and in the second half it looked as if we were the team that was going on to score.
“We were on the front foot when we gifted them three kamikaze goals.
“The second, third and fourth goals were silly, crazy goals, individual mistakes, which we had been cutting out so far. We gifted them three points.
“If you are going to do anything in this league you are going to have to defend well.
“We’ve been defending well, but individual mistakes cost us.
“It was like amateur football. It doesn’t matter who you play if you gift goals like that you are always going to be in trouble. We got what we deserved.”
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