Rothes 3 v Keith 0
ROTHES WIN COMFORTABLY
Rothes won comfortably in the end, following a closely fought first half, but the Speysiders controlled the second half to earn all three points. Former Caley Thistle youngster Aidan Wilson led the way with a well taken double.
Rothes manager Ross Jack was more than happy and said, “It was a good win in the end, I thought Keith put in a great show in the first half. Our goal late on in the first half totally changed our half-time team talk. We’ve struggled this season to score goals and get clean sheets, so to get both today was great. We could have scored more in fact, their keeper had a couple of great saves and we also hit the post. We worked hard as a team and thoroughly deserved the win”.
Keith started the game quite brightly, taking the game to their hosts, but as they have done in recent outings, scorned a chance to take the lead when Tom Andrews hit the ball straight at the goalie from 15 yards. With half-time approaching and the likelihood of a goalless first half, with four minutes remaining Wilson pounced to rocket a super shot into the corner of the net from 16 yards following a corner.
The Speysiders came out after the break and totally dominated from start to finish, forcing the Maroons into several errors. The points were more or less sealed in the 59th minute when Dem Yunus upended Jake Thompson inside the penalty area and Alan Pollock made no mistake with the resultant spot kick.
The icing on the cake came four minutes later when the visiting rearguard failed to clear their lines and Wilson sent a looping header into the roof of the net from 10 yards. The homesters could have scored more after that but Keith goalie Craig Reid pulled off two super saves to deny Michael Finnis and Fraser Robertson.
Disappointed Keith manager Craig Ewan said “The first half we played quite well and probably edged it, but didn’t have the cutting edge and then lost the late goal. Rothes totally dictated the second half, we were very poor and just didn’t turn up, I don’t know why. It was poor individual errors that led to the goals, and the second half was a big disappointment”.
Saturday 22nd October, KO 3pm
Report by Charlie Simpson