FC Stoneywood powered into the quarter-finals of the PMAC Group McLeman Cup with a comfortable 3-0 win over Maud at Clark Commercial Park.
The home side took the lead after 15 minutes when centre-half Liam BAIN side-footed home a Greg Simpson free-kick past visiting keeper Rhys Fyfe.
That was how it stood at the break but five minutes into the second half, holders Stoneywood doubled their advantage thanks to a Gavin BROWN header.
Late on, SIMPSON scored direct from a free-kick to complete the scoring.
The victory was a welcome diversion for Stoneywood, who sit bottom of the McBookie.com Superleague.
Co-manager Graeme Laird said: “This season has been extremely difficult and disappointing after last season, a campaign which we wanted to build on.
“We’ve had a lot of personnel changes and the employment situation in the North-east has resulted in a number of players having to change shifts or jobs.
“We only had two substitutes on Saturday due to boys being called into work at short notice.
“On top of that, we’re missing three key players with long-term injuries.
“Ross Goodbrand has been out all season and then, at Christmas, Allan Ogston picked up an injury. Matthew Bremner is also out and it’s doubtful whether any of them will play again before the end of the season.”
FC Stoneywood can move off the bottom of the table if they can get a win at second bottom Deveronside this weekend.
“We have nine league games left and we have to treat each and every one as a cup final and see where that takes us,” said Laird.
“We have no fresh injury problems from last weekend, so we’ll be along similar lines.
“The pressure was off for the cup game, so hopefully we can take that confidence into the league up at Banff.”
One aspect that has been a positive this season is the club’s new delayed home at Dyce’s Clark Commercial Park.
“There’s been no problems with the pitch which is a boost when you look how some of the surfaces have been suffering this season,” said laird.
Laird, and Phil Leslie, who co-manage the team, have added the experienced Bruce Morrison to the coaching staff.
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