Cullen score one of Moray welfare football's quickest-ever goals as six-shooter Ethan Blanchard fires Lhanbryde United down
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Cullen striker Ethan Blanchard scored one of Moray welfare football's fastest goals with a strike after six seconds on Tuesday's match against Lhanbryde United.
Blanchard ended up scoring six goals in his team's 9-3 victory.
Lhanbryde had picked up their first win since returning to the league when they edged out Rothes A on Friday and made the journey east with some confidence
Hosts Cullen started with a win and a narrow defeat at Aberlour last week, and couldn't have hoped to make a better start to Tuesday's match.
Blanchard was pressing high from kick off to nick the ball and put the ball in the net, with just six seconds on the referee's watch.
That early goal failed to spur Cullen on at first, as Lhanbryde soon equalised following a great solo run by Jordi Mackie before firing home.
Blanchard soon added his second but Mackie did the same to make it 2-2, again with a fine individual effort.
When Cullen got their noses in front for a third time - that man Blanchard again - they followed it up with a fourth, with Jae Marandola netting to make it 4-2 at the interval.
Despite a bright start to the second half, a mistake at the back from Cullen saw Dylan Stevenson nip in to score one-on-one with the goalkeeper and reduce the deficit once again.
The home side finally got their act together and strung together a number of goals to kill off any hopes for Lhanbryde.
Cullen’s fifth came via Blanchard, before a deft lob from Kieran Ferguson made it 6-3.
Blanchard capped off a great scoring display by scoring twice more to complete a double hat-trick and Keiran Riddoch then fired in Cullen’s ninth towards the end of the game, with a good strike from the edge of the box.
Rothes A picked up their first victory since returning to the league, edging out fellow new boys Portsoy.
Chances were limited in the opening stages but on 20 minutes, Rothes midfielder Bruno Martins picked the ball up 25 yards from goal and dribbled through several challenges before netting with a powerful left-foot strike.
Portsoy took just two minutes to respond, as a shot from the edge of the box was saved but fell to Steven Jamieson who swept home the equaliser.
The home side regained the lead just before half time. Adam Irvine fired the ball into the box and it was met by Tommy Barclay, and his effort on goal rebounded out to Reece Davies who headed home.
Portsoy passed up chances at the start of the second half and both teams began to tire. There was time for one last scoring opportunity for Portsoy from a free kick on the ;eft which was whipped in under the bar, but Rothes keeper Scott Anderson crucially tipped it over to help earn his team's first success of the campaign.
