Champions Brora romped to victory with all the goals coming in a blistering first 45 minutes.
Brora coach Alan Duff was happy with his side’s performance against one of the league’s strugglers.
He said: “I was impressed by Rothes’ spirit in the second half, but in the first 45 minutes we really did blow them away.
“It could have double figures at the break as every time we went up the park we seemed to create something.
“In that first half we probably played as well as we have all season.
“We changed things a bit at the interval and took one or two players off just to give them a little bit of a rest as we have been playing two games a week recently.
“That took the momentum out of the game for us.
“Give Rothes their due as they worked really hard right to the end, their heads never went down, the kept going and I’m sure their new manager Fraser Bremner would have been happy with that.”
Speysiders’ manager Bremner said: “We had a talk at half-time about our shape and the players did show a bit more heart and desire after the break.
“We worked hard in the first half as well but the gulf in class was there for everyone to see, they took on Richie Brittain and Stuart Kettlewell from the bench and that only emphasises that gulf in class between the teams.
“Our players can take a lot of credit from their second-half performance but they blew us away in the opening 25 minutes when they scored four goals.”
Brora were three up within the first 14 minutes, Dale Gillespie started the rout with and eighth-minute opener then new signing from Fort William, John McLeod, and Martin Maclean added two more within as many minutes.
Teenager Lewis Grant got in on the act with a double in the 24th and 28th minute, midfielder Gillespie notched his 11th goal of the season from the penalty spot before veteran centre half Grant Munro completed the scoring three minutes from the interval.