Keith manager Craig Ewen pleased with his Maroons returning to winning ways at Kynoch Park with a hard-fought Highland League success over Turriff United
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Keith didn’t make it easy for themselves, but a hard-fought victory over Turriff United pleased manager Craig Ewen on Saturday.
Having lost six and drawn one of their last seven outings since defeating Strathspey Thistle 6-1 in early October, the win was “much-needed” according to Ewen who was satisfied by his team’s display.
He felt two early goals set the Maroons up nicely and they could have been even further ahead but lost a bad goal right on half time, handing the impetus to the visitors.
However, Keith keeper Craig Reid was barely tested under some of the Turriff second-half pressure as Keith held on for a 2-1 success.
“It was a game of two halves,” he said.
“We were by far the better team in the first half and could have been more than two goals up.
“But we conceded a really bad goal right on half time and that gave them a fair bit of momentum. Turriff got after us in the second half when we sat too deep and we were fortunate on a couple of occasions.
“It was funny because Craig Reid didn’t physically have a save to make but there were at least two prolonged goalmouth scrambles where we were just able to get bodies in the way to block them out.
“One in particular, we couldn’t clear it out of the box and Turriff had about five efforts within about 30 seconds, so it was pleasing to see that we were able to throw bodies on the line to stay ahead. From 50 to 70 minutes Turriff were well on top but we managed to keep them at bay.
“It was a much-needed three points. We hadn’t won in a while, even if we had played quite well in some of the games since our last win.”
Keith’s opening goal was initially given to Tom Andrews, although it was James Brownie who in fact fired the ball home.
Ewen was pleased to see Liam Duncan net the second goal – his second strike since coming back from an injury that kept him out for more than a year.
His goal was a really good one, he made a good run and there was a nice ball played in from the right hand side, the goalie came out and he slipped it past him first time.
“Having Liam back has been great. He is an enthusiastic character and he was missing for knocking on 14-15 months.
“He was a player I had never seen before so it feels like a new signing for me. He’s playing well and the more goals he can get, the better for the club.”
Ewen knows some tough games lie ahead, starting with the visit of champions Fraserburgh on Saturday.
“There’s no easy games any more but we have Fraserburgh then Clach away, Banks O’Dee, Huntly twice then Brora,” he said.
