LOCOS lost their first game of the season on Tuesday (August 21) night and with it the chance to go on and win the Aberdeenshire Cup for the first time.
Instead it will be League champions Keith through to meet Buckie Thistle in what will be a re
peat of May's League Cup Final on Saturday, September 15.
Both sides appeared to be feeling their way into the game with a lack of clearcut opportunities in the opening spell. The best effort of that spell saw Dean Donaldson test Kyle Reid with a volley from Jonathan Watts cross after Martin Wood had laid the full back in down the right.
Keith went ahead in 20 minutes. A ball down the inside left channel from Graham Lonie had too much on it to find Jamie Lennox but he followed the ball in and landed lucky as Kyle Reid inexplicably spilled the ball and Lennox pounced on the chance to place it into the far corner of the empty net from an acute angle.
Locos should have levelled in the 26th minute when a Richie Singer free kick to the back post found Scott Michie unmarked six yards from goal, however his header failed to find its mark.
This chance seemed to lift the visitors who began to look a threat. Michie turned provider with a very well weighted ball over the top of the Keith defence for Nicky Gordon. The ball sat up inviting the former Cove man to try and to lob Andy Shearer but the keeper got just enough on it to turn it away for a corner.
After a quieter spell, Kevin Will's men went closer still. Alfie Youngson drove into the box on the left and drove in a ball which was met by the diving head of Gordon. However, his close range effort cracked back off the post.
The second half started brightly with both teams going close within the first three minutes. Neil McLean moved the ball onto his right foot before zipping a low shot in from the edge of the box that appeared to skim the base of the post on its way past.
At the other end a lovely interchange of passes down the right culminated in a deep cross from Stuart Walker finding Wayne Mackay at the back edge of the six yard box. He controlled it before hitting a low shot in which was charged down by Reid.
The game swung back to the other end of the field and Youngson hit a shot from a similar range to the one from McLean minutes earlier. This time it took a fingertip stop from Andy Shearer to keep Keith ahead.
It seemed the teams were taking it in turns to have a go and therefore it was the Maroons who were next to create. This time a good switch of play allowed Walker to move down the right and deliver a first time, low cross which Lennox instinctively took on his left foot but his effort flew over the bar.
Locos were back on level terms in the 67th minute when a darting McLean run into the inside left channel of the box saw him in a foot race with Shearer. McLean managed to get the toe to the ball before the keeper and although the ball was going out the keeper's connection with the man and not the ball left referee Craig Sim with little option other than to point to the spot. Michie stepped up and put a perfectly placed spot kick low into the corner of the net.
The response from the Maroons was instant and it took a fantastic leap from Reid to deny Stuart Walker whose looping header from a Graham Lonie appeared to be dipping under the bar. From the corner Reid punched the ball only as far as Wood and his drilled shot was somehow turned over the bar by Mark Perry from five yards.
The home side were back in front in the 73rd minute and it was the second ball from a corner which lead to Mackay sneaking in behind the advancing Locos defence and he duly took his chance placing the ball high into the far corner of the net from 14 yards.
Keith should have wrapped the match up in the 81st minute when a Mackay free kick from the right was placed on the head of Neil Robertson who was in the clear, six yards out. The former Lossie man headed the ball down into the ground but Reid was able to read the bounce and punched it over the bar.
In the end it mattered not as Keith never looked like losing a leveller and the final action saw Youngson red carded for a dangerous and needless lunging tackle on ex-Locos midfielder Barry Somers.
The ex-Blue Tooner will be suspended for this Saturday's home Second Round meeting with Fraserburgh in the Challenge Cup at Harlaw Park. Kick off is 3pm. Kevin Will does not have his problems to seek. Having completed his suspension, Paul Jarvie would have played against Keith but for having been savaged by his own dog.
Tommy Wilson and Gary Nicol could return if they have shaken off knocks which kept them out of the semi, while one bright light has been the return in the last two games of Craig Ross after a rib injury, and Steven Park not far off a return too.
Keith: Shearer, Watt, Lonie, Niddrie (Nicol 46), Still (Robertson 68), Mackay, Wood, Lennox (Somers 81), Donaldson, Walker, Perry. Not Used: O'Driscoll, Cheyne.
Inverurie Locos: Reid, McCulloch, Scott, Calder (Ross 81), Mess (Simpson 46), Buchan, Singer, Youngson, Michie, Gordon, McLean (Milne 81). Not Used: McKinstry, Nicol.
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