Keith 0 Huntly 4: Black and Golds beat local rivals to tee up cup tie with Aberdeen
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HUNTLY manager Allan Hale has praised his side for a "clinical" and "professional" 4-0 victory against local rivals Keith in the Aberdeenshire Cup.
The Black and Golds bounced back from a 2-1 defeat to Turriff United on Highland League opening day to win 4-0 at Kynoch Park on Wednesday and tee up a quarter-final tie with Aberdeen.
An early goal from Gavin Elphinstone was added to by a second half brace from Andy Hunter, including a tremendous free-kick, and a stoppage time Greg Buchan strike to hand the Black and Golds a well-deserved victory.
Huntly will host Aberdeen at Christie Park in the quarter final on Wednesday, August 17.
Manager Allan Hale said: "We were thoroughly professional, especially in the second half. We didn't get a host of chances throughout the game but we were very clinical with the chances we did get.
"We competed well and played at a good intensity. It was competitive for large parts but I'm delighted we got the goals to kill the game and kept the clean sheet as well.
"The spirit within the group was great, there was a real determination to bounce back from our disappointing afternoon on Saturday. We are really pleased with the reaction and a lot of elements of our performance.
"Now we have an opportunity to go and play Aberdeen at home which is an exciting tie."
Huntly went ahead within six minutes when a clipped ball over the top of the Keith defence from Reece McKeown saw Gavin Elphinstone beat the offside trap before firing home well on the half volley.
The visitors almost doubled their lead on the quarter hour mark when the impressive Andy Hunter fired inches wide from the corner of the box.
Keith started the second half with a bit more purpose, but were struck a hammer blow on 64 minutes when a ball slid through their defence was slammed in first time by Hunter for 2-0.
It would have been three just minutes later if not for Nizam Abdulkarim's last-ditch intervention to block Reece McKeown's goal-bound strike.
The goal of the night was scored by Andy Hunter as he curled a free-kick directly into the top corner from 25 yards with 13 minutes to play.
It looked as if Hunter would try for his hat-trick when he was presented with another free-kick in an identical position in stoppage time, but this time he teed up Greg Buchan who drilled a 25-yard strike in off the base of the post.
Keith manager Craig Ewen was disappointed with his side's performance – with Keith having now lost both games this season 4-0 after Saturday's defeat at home to Brora Rangers.
He said: "We were beaten by a hungrier, sharper, fitter team. Huntly got off to a good start and had their tails up and we struggled to match their energy or work rate.
"It's been a disappointing start to the season for us. We've started with a bad habit of conceding cheap, poor goals, so we are going to have to work harder to do better.
"We felt we had a decent enough pre-season, but evidently we didn't because we haven't started well. For whatever reason, we are just not at it."
