Inverurie Locos assistant manager Jamie Lennox believes their first half display against Turriff United is as well as they have played during his time with the Railwaymen.
Locos beat Turra 4-0 at Harlaw Park to remain third in Breedon Highland League with 16 points from a possible 21.
Lennox arrived at Inverurie as part of manager Dean Donaldson’s coaching team last October, when they moved from United, and was blown away by their first half display.
Lennox said: “I thought we were excellent, first half especially, that could be the best we’ve played since we came into the club.
“The boys put in an unbelievable shift and didn’t give them a minute’s peace.
“We knew it would be tough, Turriff beat us last season (4-1) and we knew they’d look to come at us.
“But the boys were really good. Given the teams we’ve played I don’t think we can argue with the start we’ve had.
“We’ve started well and we’re just looking to kick on.”
Four-goal first half salvo
Locos wrapped up the points with a dominant first half display.
Aidan Wilson, Lloyd Robertson and Daniel Agnew had all been denied by goalkeeper Lee Herbert before captain Greg Mitchell broke the deadlock on 14 minutes.
The Inverurie skipper came in from the right flank, exchanged passed with Agnew and drilled a shot into the bottom left corner.
After more pressure the hosts made it 2-0 midway through the first period.
Jay Halliday broke from midfield, his through ball picked out Cole Anderson’s run and he blasted a shot beyond Herbert.
Referee Kevin Murray also deserved credit for his part in the goal for playing advantage when Halliday had been wiped out after releasing his pass.
Inverurie made it three on 37 minutes. Logan Johnstone’s ball down the left channel found Anderson and with United caught short he picked out Halliday, who in turn found Wilson to hammer a first time finish into the net.
Number four arrived on the stroke of half-time when Calum Dingwall’s cross from the left found Robertson whose flicked header nestled in the top right corner.
Disappointing night for United
Turriff’s best opportunity of the first period, and the whole game, came in the 17th minute with the score at 1-0.
John Allan crossed from the left and goalkeeper Zack Ellis had to move smartly to beat away Reece McKeown’s net-bound header.
The second half was less eventful, Owen Kinsella glanced a header narrowly wide for Turra before coming off on 75 minutes with a suspected dislocated shoulder.
Boss Warren Cummings said: “It looks a bad one, it looks like Owen’s dislocated his shoulder which will mean he’s out for quite some time which is disappointing.
“It was a tough night. Congratulations to Inverurie, they dominated every aspect of the game in the first half.
“But we’ve got to analyse ourselves, we didn’t win enough first and second balls, we didn’t track runners.
“Those are basics of the game you have to do to win matches and we didn’t get that right.”
Clachnacuddin 7-0 Wick Academy
Clachnacuddin trounced Wick Academy 7-0 at Grant Street Park as their impressive start to the Breedon Highland League season took them into fourth spot.
Goals from home skipper Harry Nicolson and James Anderson put the Merkinchers two up inside 17 minutes.
Nicolson crashed home a rocket of a shot before Scott Davidson racked the tally up to four still comfortably inside the first half.
Substitutes Lewis Mackenzie and Jack Davison then Connor Bunce wrapped up the rout with goals in the closing 10 minutes.
Conor Gethins made just one change to his Lilywhites team following their 2-1 win at Huntly, which extended their unbeaten stretch to three matches, as Joe Malin replaced Daniel Rae between the sticks.
Selection issues hampered Wick boss Gary Manson’s options, and his changes from their 4-1 weekend loss to Brechin City saw Graeme Williamson, Brandon Sinclair, Matthew Robertson and Richard Macadie brought in as starters.
Fast start for hosts
Clach opened the scoring on 11 minutes when energetic midfielder Allan Macphee whipped in a corner and Nicolson got the final touch after a knock-on from Josh Meekings.
It was 2-0 on 17 minutes when a pass from Bunce found Anderson and the striker pounced with a diving header to double the scoreline.
Clach were on top, confidently knocking the ball around, with Academy seeking a way into the match when they could.
The pick of the goals came on 31 minutes. Macphee, from another corner, played it to Nicolson, who was in plenty of space, and he rifled the ball from fully 30 yards high past Williamson.
More punishment followed five minutes later when Davidson raced on to a Ben Cormack through ball and slotted his shot past the keeper to make it 4-0.
Wick lost 8-0 here last season, and they would have been fearing the worst now.
Richard Macadie tested Malin with a shot as Wick found a way to test their opponents as half-time approached.
Wick, to their credit, were playing and passing much better in the second half, but found Clach a match all over the park.
The Lilies’ fifth goal arrived on 80 minutes when Troy Cooper’s neat cut-back was guided home by a tidy shot from Mackenzie.
Number six came when Davison latched on to a long ball and lashed an unstoppable shot past the keeper moments before Bunce powered home another.
This victory pushes Clach on to 13 points, now six points clear of their well-beaten opponents, who dipped to 14th place.
This weekend, Clach are in Banff to face Deveronvale, while Wick welcome Banks o’ Dee to Harmsworth Park.
Buckie Thistle 8-2 Strathspey Thistle
Buckie Thistle won the battle of the Jags in a ten-goal thriller at Victoria Park with Lyall Keir’s brilliantly taken five-goal haul the clear highlight.
In the 18th minute Buckie took the lead when Josh Peters fed Marcus Goodall and his deflected effort looped up and over the helpless Kit Fletcher and into the net.
Three minutes later it was 2-0 when skipper Sam Pugh hammered an unstoppable 25-yard left-footed drive beyond the despairing drive of keeper Fletcher.
On the half hour mark playmaker Andy MacAskill, who played a part in both those early goals, played in Peters but with only Fletcher to beat the striker fired yards wide of the target from 10 yards.
Keir made it 3-0 in the 34th minute with a brilliant piece of individual skill and a clinical finish.
Eight minutes later MacAskill again set up youngster Keir with the same devastating result, this time he beat Fletcher with a 12-yard angled drive.
In the 48th minute Strathspey pulled a goal back through a superb Aaron Nicolson strike and a minute later Nicolson added another from the penalty spot after keeper Mark Ridgers had pulled down Juan Cuellar in the box.
Keir completed his hat-trick in the 77th minute when he fired under the diving Fletcher from 12 yards.
Seven minutes later substitute Craig Cormack made it six before Keir added his own fourth and Buckie’s seventh goal and right on time he notched his fifth of the night.
Banks o’ Dee 2-3 Huntly
An Angus Grant hat-trick in the first half saw Huntly record their first competitive win over Banks o’ Dee.
Dee came close after 14 minutes when Iain Vigurs sent in a free kick to Andrew Hunter but his header was wide of the post.
Dee were claiming for a handball by Cameron Heslop in the box but referee Nathan Clac-Mansfield waved away the claims.
Huntly went ahead after 29 minutes when Sam Robertson drove down the right and crossed for Grant to fire into the far post.
In the 39th minutes, Matthew Wallace won the ball and released Grant who showed great composure before lifting a shot beyond Daniel Hoban to double the lead.
In stoppage time, Owen Morris’ corner was played into Kai Watson who saw an effort blocked before it fell to Grant to complete his hat-trick despite offside claims from the home side.
Less than a minute into the second half, Mark Gilmour had the ball in the opposition net but he was flagged offside by assistant referee Ewan Pow.
The hosts reduced the deficit four minutes into the second half when Hamish MacLeod turned in after Iain Vigurs curled in a free kick.
Daniel Hoban prevented a further goal from the visitors with a great stop to turn a Kai Watson shot over the bar.
Dee added a second with ten minutes to go when Mark Gilmour’s shot towards goal was turned into his own net by the returning Ross Still.
Keith 4-0 Forres Mechanics
Keith backed up a fine victory against Brora Rangers with a 4-0 hammering of Forres Mechanics at Kynoch Park.
Goals from Ronan Craib and James Brownie were added to by a Horace Ormsby double to give the Maroons a comprehensive success.
Keith should have taken the lead within three minutes when Cameron Farquhar parried Horace Ormsby’s low shot into the path of Ryan Park, but Park fired over from close range with the goal gaping.
Park went close again on seven minutes. He beautifully controlled a Nathan McKeown cross on the spin and lashed a volley against the crossbar.
Keith turned a good start into a lead on 20 minutes when centre-half Craib volleyed a corner home at the back post.
That lead was doubled on the half-hour mark when midfielder Horace Ormsby’s outside-of-the-foot effort from 10 yards beat Farquhar.
Keith went into the break with a well-earned two-goal lead – but not without a little scare as Jack Grant’s deflected effort from 25 yards flew a yard wide of goal.
The first action of note for Keith keeper Craig Reid came on 69 minutes when be punched clear Sam Nixon’s header after a Jack Grant corner.
But Forres never looked like scoring and were finished off on 75 minutes when Ormsby grabbed his second with a left-footed finish from six yards after some poor defending.
Captain Brownie added gloss to the scoreline for a rampant home side with a diving header five minutes later.
Brechin City 2-0 Deveronvale
Brechin City moved back to the top of the Breedon Highland League table following a hard-fought 2-0 victory over Deveronvale at Glebe Park.
City went in at the interval 1-0 up after Dayle Robertson had converted from the penalty-spot and Robertson was on the mark again 16 minutes from full-time when he was on the spot to blast the ball past Vale keeper Ethan Hopkinson.
The early stages of the game were evenly balanced but Brechin were unlucky not to open the scoring after eight minutes when a Robertson header struck the bar before being cleared and shortly afterwards Fraser MacLeod fired a shot just wide of the target.
However, they made the vital breakthrough after quarter of an hour when Robertson converted from the penalty-spot after MacLeod had been brought down in the box by Murray Esson.
Although City were enjoying the lion’s share of pressure, the visitors always looked dangerous on the counter-attack and they were unlucky not to draw level on the hour mark when Keane Matheson prodded the ball past the post just a couple of yards from goal.
They went close again 11 minutes later when City keeper Lenny Wilson did well to block a close-range drive from Jack Mitchell.
However, the points were wrapped up for the hosts in the 74th minute when Robertson grabbed his second goal of the evening when he was on the spot to blast the ball home after a Spencer Moreland shot had been blocked.
Lossiemouth 0-2 Formartine United
Formartine United made it two wins on the spin with a 2-0 victory against Lossiemouth at Grant Park.
The Pitmedden side lost three league games in a row with defeats against Turriff United, Brora Rangers and Forres Mechanics before Saturday’s 4-0 win at Strathspey Thistle.
After a goal-less first half, Formartine broke the deadlock on the hour mark through Jonathan Crawford.
The visitors doubled their advantage 10 minutes later through former Buckie Thistle attacker Scott Adams.
The North Lodge Park side now have nine points from their first seven games, while Lossiemouth have four points from their opening seven matches.
Formartine host Keith on Saturday, while Lossie head to Strathspey.
Conversation