Lossiemouth keeper Stuart Knight is penalty hero to oust former club Forres Mechanics as three North of Scotland Cup quarter-finals go to penalties and Fraserburgh thrash Rothes in Highland League
Lossiemouth keeper Stuart Knight knocked his former club Forres Mechanics out of the North of Scotland Cup with three penalty saves in a dramatic shoot-out.
And two other ties were also decided by penalties on a tense night of action.
Lossie recently parted company with manager Eddie Wolecki Black but some interest was sparked by the presence of ex-Elgin City manager Gavin Price in the Mosset Park stand.
Forres took the lead through Mark Mclauchlan’s third goal of the season just after half time, only for Ross Archibald to punish slack play with an equaliser on 56 minutes.
Neither side could find a winner in the 90 minutes but Knight saved three kicks from Cans’ Aidan Cruickshank, Kyle MacLeod and Calum Howarth to help the Coasters progress to a semi-final at Brora Rangers.
Holders Nairn County are out - they led Clach 2-0 at Station Park but were hit by a second half comeback completed by a penalties win for the Lilywhites.
Ali Morrison’s header for County midway through the first half gave the home side a half time advantage and Gary Kerr slotted home his first goal since signing in the summer to make it 2-0.
James Anderson pulled one back with 15 minutes to go and Connor Bunce netted an equaliser for the Inverness side to force penalties, which Clach won 4-3
A Wick Academy side which has conceded a lot of goals this term made things difficult for hosts Brora Rangers in the north derby.
It looked to be heading for a shoot-out until Colin Williamson popped up in the third minute of time added on for Brora’s winner, the only game to be decided outright on the evening.
North Caledonian League pair Halkirk United and Inverness Athletic fought out a 3-3 draw, with Inverness winning 5-4 on penalties.
Halkirk went ahead through a Mark Munro strike on 15 minutes only for Ciaran Young to level for Inverness.
Stuart Campbell’s free kick made it 2-1 to United but Young got his second on the stroke of half time for the away side.
Munro’s second for Halkirk restored the away team’s lead on 53 minutes but that was quickly cancelled out by a third Athletic goal after a goalmouth scramble.
In the night’s only Highland League match, Rothes went down at home to Fraserburgh.
Veteran Willie West drove Broch in front after 14 minutes and Scott Barbour made it 2-0 at the break.
West and Barbour both doubled their personal goal tallies in a two-minute spell just before the hour, and youngster Flynn McKay quickly added two more by the 70th minute.
Cameron Robertson made it 7-0 on 74 minutes to compete the Speysiders’ misery.
