WATCH: Keith crash out of Scottish Cup as Luncarty shrug off poor East of Scotland League form to hit five at Kynoch Park
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Keith reserved their worst performance of the season so far for their Scottish Cup first round clash with Luncarty on Saturday.
The Maroons were favourites to proceed against their Perthshire opponents, who arrived at Kynoch Park low in confidence having lost all six of their matches in the East of Scotland League Premier Division this term.
So what unfolded was a shock to the system for the home fans as Luncarty romped to a 5-2 victory to the delight of their army of travelling supporters.
See highlights on Scottish Cup Youtube channel below.
The Maroons performance was in stark contrast to their last home cup outing when they upset all the odds to defeat league leaders Buckie Thistle in the Highland league Cup on penalties after a goalless 90 minutes.
Craig Ewen’s men face a semi-final in that competition at Brora Rangers this weekend, but their interest in the national tournament went out with a whimper.
Luncarty opened the scoring on 29 minutes when Kyle Woolley beat the offside trap to latch on to a long ball and advance into the box before sliding a left foot finish beyond keeper Craig Reid into the corner of the net.
Keith produced a good response through winger Gavin Elphinstone, who made a powerful run down the right channel which was ended when a Luncarty defender pulled him back in the box and a penalty was awarded.
Elphinstone brushed himself down to take the kick on 36 minutes and send the keeper the wrong way to level the scores up.
As much as Keith hasn’t produced a strong first half performance, they would have been happy with an equal scoreline at the interval but a goalkeeping error by Reid saw them go behind.
The hero of their cup triumph against Buckie, the Maroons number one seemed to have Kyle Green’s 20-yard drive well covered but in trying to push it over the bar, he only succeeded in fumbling it down and over the line to gift Luncarty the lead on 42 minutes.
A big second half was needed by the home side but instead, their challenge faded badly.
Two minutes in, Keith stopper Kieran Yeats was adjudged to have pulled back a Luncarty player as a free kick was played into the home box, and the second penalty kick of the game was awarded.
Reid initially made amends for his first half error, repeating his spot kick heroics against Buckie by saving Rhys Davies effort from the spot.
However, Davies did well to react to the rebound and meet it with a diving header into the opposite corner to put the visitors 3-1 ahead.
Luncarty were in dreamland on the hour mark when they bucked the trend of their league struggles at the bottom of the table by scoring a fourth goal.
This time, Davies found space in the home box and drilled in a shot which again Reid was able to repel. However, none of his defenders reacted to the rebound and it was Green who was on hand to steer the ball home for his second goal of the afternoon.
The Maroons needed a miracle to turn things round and hoped that their second goal on 79 minutes could spark a late onslaught.
Jordan Cooper kept a cool head in the Luncarty box amidst a scramble to side foot into the corner and reduce the gap to two.
But time ran out on the Keith challenge and Craig Mitchell added a fifth for the visitors on 88 minutes.
