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Keith produced one of the best 45 minute performances of Craig Ewen's managerial reign on Saturday.

But the Maroons boss knows his men will have to perform for a full 90 minutes when they take on some of the league's big guns in September.

Twice pegged back by a visiting Nairn County in Saturday's GPH Builders Merchants Highland League Cup tie, Keith battled on to secure a 3-2 victory and a home quarter-final against Buckie Thistle.

See Beth Taylor's picture gallery from the match:

That game will be part of a treacherous run of matches which also sees the Kynoch Park men play high flyers Formartine United, Brora Rangers, Fraserburgh, Banks O' Dee and a potentially tough Scottish Cup tie, all in the space of a month.

"It's going to be a tough September for us," Ewen said. "In the league we've got four of the top six clubs plus Buckie in the cup."

Goals by recent signing Jordan Cooper, co-captain James Brownie and a first for the club for sub Joey Wilson landed the Maroons their cup success.

Dominat in the first 45 minutes, Ewen said his men should easily have had a better lead than the 2-1 scoreline they took into the half time interval.

He was critical of his side's second half showing for a 25-minute spell but praised them for regaining the lead for a third time and seeing the contest out.

"The first half was really good from our perspective, probably up there with the best football I've seen us play in my time there," he added.

"It was 2-1 but should have been five or six, we were that far ahead and dominating that much.

"At the same time we were not clinical enough with our chances and the game was still in the melting pot.

"After it went to 2-2, anyone at the game might have thought that Nairn would go on and win it because they had the momentum. There was inconsistency in our performance and I was annoyed that we went from playing so well to playing so poorly in such a short space of time.

"But getting into the next round was the main objective and we managed to do that. We got there in the end."

Ewen was pleased with first Keith goals for Cooper and Wilson.

And he praised young Aberdeen goalkeeper Reuben Smillie (17) who was drafted in on an emergency loan to play when regular Craig Reid was unavailable.

"Our midfield three was outstanding in the first half. Jordan is forward-thinking and you could see he's always looking to try and get into the penalty box.

"The ball rebounded out and he was there to smash it in. He's started his Keith career really well.

"I was pleased for Joey because he's been on the periphery and finding it hard to nail down a position.

"But he's a lovely guy with a good attitude and it was great for him to come on and get the winner.

"We were grateful to get Reuben and he did absolutely fine for us as a stopgap."

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