Keith 1 Deveronvale 1: Two early strikes don't lead to goalfest
FANS must have thought they were in for a goal-laden afternoon when two goals flew in in the opening eight minutes at Kynoch Park on Saturday, writes Charlie Simpson.
Keith found the back of the net inside a minute, with Vale equalising seven minutes later.
However, that ended the scoring with both sides battling the elements of wind and rain for most of the afternoon.
The Maroons had latest signing Ethan Smith, nephew of Keith legend Kris “Nidds” Niddrie, making his home debut.
His team made the perfect start, scoring with less than a minute on the clock, Liam Duncan pouncing to slam home from six yards for his third goal of the season. However, within seven minutes the Banffers were back in the game when Olek Dlugosz swept the ball home from the edge of the six yard box.
Vale then proceeded to take the game to the Maroons and Craig Reid was forced in to several saves. It was at the other end though that Matty Tough ought to have found the target after racing through, only to clip his shot wide.
Neither side could quite edge in front again, though Dem Yunus seemed to set up Tough, and the referee admitted he made a mistake in awarding offside against the latter.
With 10 minutes remaining, substitute Nathan McKeown saw his net-bound shot cleared off the line.
