Ten-man Peterhead held on for a 2-1 win over East Fife thanks to Scott Brown’s spectacular winner.
Brown volleyed in from outside the box five minutes into the second half, before Gary Fraser saw red.
Dundee loanee Lyall Cameron had put the Balmoor outfit in front, prior to an equaliser from Danny Denholm before the break.
Despite waves of late pressure, the Blue Toon held on for a hard-fought three points.
Peterhead came into the game looking for just their third league win of the season , while East Fife had already been beaten in the north-east on the first day of the season by Cove Rangers.
With less than four minutes on the clock Peterhead worked their first opportunity of the game, with a slaloming run from Cameron finding skipper Brown in the right side of the box. His shot was kicked away by goalkeeper Brett Long.
Brown was again in the thick of things shortly after, with a low drive from the edge of the box which Long clung on to, before the lively Cameron put the Blue Toon in front.
Ryan Conroy’s corner evaded Gary MacKenzie put Kyle Bailey was able to trap it, dropping it to the edge of the box for Cameron to shoot through a ruck of players into the bottom corner.
The home side were comfortably in the ascendancy, with Cameron in particular proving a menace for the East Fife defence to deal with.
20' Peterhead – East Fife 1-0: GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLL FOR PETERHEAD!!! LYALL CAMERON THUMPS HOME!!! pic.twitter.com/OXitS25HcR
— Peterhead FC (@pfcofficial) December 12, 2020
It took 30 minutes for the visitors to have their first sight of goal, with a shot from Scott Agnew bobbling towards goal and Josh Rae smuggling it round the post.
They were level three minutes later, however, when they beat the Peterhead offside trap and Jack Hamilton squared for Denholm to tap into an empty net.
Peterhead had also lost Andrew McCarthy in the first half through injury, with Alan Cook replacing him before half-time.
Brown’s influence on the game had been key and he put the Blue Toon in front in spectacular fashion, volleying into the top corner from the edge of the box.
Fraser had two bites at extending Peterhead’s lead further but on both occasions was crowded out by East Fife defenders.
However, that turned out to be Fraser’s last contribution of the game as he was shown a straight red card by referee Graham Beaton for alleged violent conduct, with Ross Davidson also shown a yellow card for his part in the incident.
Davidson almost made a more decisive intervention shortly after with a speculative curling effort from 30 yards that beat Rae but rebounded off the post.
Peterhead were now forced to weather constant pressure from Darren Young’s side but were standing up to the task, repelling every ball into the box.
Their massed ranks held firm in the closing stages, frustrating the visitors and grinding out a vital victory.