Moray welfare football champions FC Fochabers make winning start against Craigellachie while Portsoy return with a bang by defeating fellow new boys Lhanbryde United
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FC Fochabers began their Moray welfare league title defence in winning fashion on Friday.
The 'Rockets' hosted Craigellachie and ran out 3-0 winners after a close first half.
There was little to separate the sides in the opening 45 minutes but a Craigellachie own goal gave the home team a slender advantage at the break.
It was 2-0 when Andrew Walker broke through and found the net for the champs.
Victory was sealed with 15 minutes left when Lewis Grant cut inside and struck the ball low and hard into the net from the edge of the penalty area.
Read more: Pictures - Hopeman kick off with victory over Rothes A.
RAF Lossiemouth made an impressive start, recording a 4-0 win at home to Aberlour Villa.
Dean McKellar hit the crossbar for the airmen inside the first five minutes, but an opening goal wasn't far away.
It came when Dean Stevenson set up Harry Williams to finish in the seventh minute.
Williams then turned provider two minutes later for Ryan Woods to make it 2-0.
Lossie's stunning start continued with a third goal on 11 minutes, Callum Devine netting from a Henry Jordan assist.
The goals dried up from there and there was no further scoring until midway through the second half when Williams scored his second, set up by Devine.
Portsoy returned to the welfare set-up in style with a 5-0 success at home to a Lhanbryde United team also coming back into the league after a few years out.
The coast side were dominant in the first half with Jack Mitchell, Vinnie Ingleby and Shaun Petrie prominent in their attacks but Lhanbryde stood firm to keep the scoreline blank at the break.
It all changed in the second half as Portsoy's superiority turned into goals.
Firstly a Lucas Mair 25-yard effort slipped through the United keeper's hands to make it 1-0, then Mitchell converted a cross ball to quickly add a second.
Mitchell turned provider with a sublime pass for Ingleby score next, and Mitchell capped a fine display by scoring his own second to make it 4-0.
The scoring was completed when excellent work by Steven Jamieson down the left saw his cross slip through the keeper's hands and Euan Cleland was on hand to tap-in and seal a 5-0 win.
It was a good day for Banffshire teams as Cullen also made a winning start at new club Thunderton's expense.
The Elgin visitors came close to opening the scoring from a corner kick which came back off the near post, before Cullen managed to clear their lines.
Cullen struck first when Logan Mill showed good composure to make space for a successful strike on goal.
Mill then crossed for Taylor Smith to add a second before half time.
The contest looked over early in the second half when Mill drove in from the left wing to fire the ball across goal and it was turned into his own net by Thunderton defender Kevin Stewart.
But the visitors came back into the match, scoring in similar fashion to Cullen's third goal when defender Macauly Flaws tried to clear but only succeeded in turning past his own keeper for the second own goal of the match.
With 15 minutes to go the match was back in the melting pot when the ball dropped to Thunderton's Paul Coull and he poked home.
Cullen eased any nerves in the closing minutes when a Thunderton throw-in fell short of its target and Jae Marandola stole in and rounded the keeper before scoring to make the final score 4-2.
Friday's league fixtures (7.30pm kick-offs):
Aberlour Villa v Cullen
Craigellachie v RAF Lossiemouth
FC Fochabers v Thunderton
Lhanbryde United v Rothes A
Portsoy v Hopeman
