Nairn County had Steve Edwards & Martin Sanderson sent off in the first half as they crashed to the Banffers in a one-sided affair at Station Park in front of a paltry crowd, presumably affected by the live television showing of Scotland's World Cup showdown with Belarus.
With Vale three up, courtesy of a Mark Chisholm double sandwiched with Mark Smith's sixth of the season, Steve Edwards felt the wrath of both the referee and a section of the home support when he was red carded for a four word verbal at the official, which saw him head off for an early shower.
Things went horribly wrong thereafter for the Wee County and shortly after Sanderson also saw red for deliberately taking Ian Murray out with his right boot as the wee striker was breaking clear of the home defense.
Second half strikes from Kenny Gilbert and Ian Murray had Vale on easy street although to be fair to the nine men, who worked extremely hard in difficult circumstances, they did complete the scoring through Duncan Jones' well-taken solo effort.
Following Wednesday's defeat at the hands of Inverurie Locos Banffers boss Gregg Carrol opted to change his controversial formation to a more streamline four-four-two line-up with Kenny Gilbert switching to right-back and young midfielder Paul Munro making his first start for his home-town team as he took over from his experienced assistant manager in the middle of the park alongside Mark Smith.
County were in a decent run of form coming into the encounter and manager Les Fridge had a healthy pool to pick from as his side looked to leap-frog their visitors into sixth spot in the Highland League table.

An excellently timed challenge by Mark Chisholm denied come-back striker Willie Barren as he looked to pull the trigger within a minute of the kick-off and at the other end "Chiz", playing in midfield for the first time this season, latched onto a Mark Smith pass but Martin Sanderson was across quickly to clear for a disappointing Steve Dolan corner.
Vale kept up the pressure though and went into a sixth minute lead when Mike McKenzie picked up a pass inside the County penalty box skipped his way to the bye-line before picking out CHISHOLM with delightful stand-up and "Chiz" finished the move off with a downward header which nestled in the bottom corner.
The Banffer's lead was cancelled out when County equalised midway through the first period. The homeside had slowly gathered momentum and won a couple of corner kicks, the second making its way to the back post and with his back to goal Willie Barron had his legs inexplicably taken from him by Ross McWilliam's clumsy challenge. Macrae tucked the penalty into the corner sending James Blanchard the wrong way in the process.
Nairn were only on level terms for a minute however when Mark SMITH volleyed Ian Murray's centre home from 16-yards with keeper John Campbell appearing to slip as he attempted to dive for the low shot into the corner of the net.
Byran Dlugonski then also slipped as he chased Willie Barron to a through ball but Kenny Gilbert used all his experience to come across to cover for his fellow defender and clear a potential equaliser.
Skipper Mark Chisholm just failed to punish MacLeod and Campbell who both missed a Ross McWilliam deep cross to the far post, "Chiz" heading just past the post unchallenged.
Willie Barron should have done better when he was straight through on James Blanchard but fired wide of the upright as "Blanchie" came off his line to narrow the angle.

Steve Dolan's angled delicate chip over the top of the County defence picked out the ever-alert Ian Murray but John Campbell raced from his line to block for another disappointing flag-kick.
Moments later Mike McKenzie almost took the hands off of the County number one with a ferocious strike from 22-yards, which the keeper just managed to turn around the post although perhaps he may have injured himself in the process as the custodian failed to appear for the second period.
Mark CHISHOLM scored his second and Vale's third of the afternoon when looking suspiciously offside he planted a Paul Munro pass beyond Campbell from 12-yards after good lead up play from firstly Munro and then Mike McKenzie.
Steve Edwards was furious with the officials decision to allow the goal to stand but telling the referee to his face what he thought using foul language is never a good idea and so it proved when Mr. Cheyne immediately flashed a red card at him and off he went.
Within three minutes the Wee County were down to nine men when Martin Sanderson foolishly struck out a leg to pull down Ian Murray as he looked to break free of the home defence and latch onto a Kenny Gilbert ball over the top.
Robbie Brown broke from his defensive duties to square the ball out to Ross McWilliam and the 'full of running' winger returned the favour when he picked out "Brooner" with his swinging cross into the danger area but the red-haired defender found Campbell in the right place to save his header from making it number four for the visitors.

The Banffers killed off the match as a contest when Ross McWilliam was upended as he cut inside from the right on the edge of the eighteen-yard box and from the resultant short free-kick Mike McKenzie picked out Kenny GILBERT who lashed the ball home via a slight deflection past substitute keeper Jim Calder.
Mark Chisholm was denied his hat trick when Calder saved at the feet of the rampant Vale captain but with the home side relying on long balls to the isolated Willie Barron it was just a matter of time before Vale 'went nap'.
Ian MURRAY did indeed make it five when he slotted home Ross McWilliam's cut-back from the bye-line past the helpless Calder, which was to be the last piece of action for McWilliam who was immediately replaced by Terry Kidd.
At the other end Barron was doing his best to make life difficult for Vale's idling defence and did give them a moment of concern when he out jumped Blanchard and Brown only to see Kenny Gilbert pop-up to thump clear although it's hard to say if the ball had enough pace to actually cross the line.
Chisholm, who seemed to be everywhere, was denied his third yet again this time by the woodwork when his crisply struck drive cannoned back off the crossbar with Jim Calder beaten all hands up.

Ian Murray attempted an ambitious 30-yards lob over the home substitute keeper but although it had Calder back-pedaling ferociously the ball landed just over and on the roof of the net.
Robbie Brown's curling left-footed effort was well handled by Calder before substitute Paul Urquhart was also thwarted by the busy home keeper.
Jamie Watt, who had earlier replaced Mike McKenzie, spurned a decent opportunity when sent clear with only Calder to beat but the experienced goalie stood up well to save with his right boot and thus denying Watt a chance to get one goal closer to the 100 mark of which he is a whisker away from achieving.
Duncan Jones scored an excellent solo goal when he was allowed to run from just inside the Vale half unchallenged before slotting coolly past James Blanchard at his near post.
Scott Kellacher, playing in defence these days was voted the sponsors man-of-the-match.

Gregg Carrol seemed pretty pleased when asked if he was satisfied with his side's performance. He said, "Yes I thought we played very well, especially in the first hour of the game. After that we laboured a bit and although I freshened things up we just seemed to loose our way a bit. Wednesday's defeat was disappointing but our league form of late has been a huge improvement and will make other title ambitious sides in the league stand up and take notice. I was particularly pleased with Paul Munro who for a young lad was very mature out there and has made my job that bit harder when picking the side for next week's game against Wick.
We changed our formation today and yes we got the result we were looking for but I do not believe that football is just about three-five-two's or four-four-two's, it's about playing as a team, working for each other and working hard for ninety minutes".

Nairn County:
Campbell (Calder 46), MacLeod, McLean (Seaton 45), Jones, ##Sanderson, Kellacher, Brooks, Macrae, ##Edwards, Barron
Manager: Les Fridge

Vale:
Blanchard, Dolan, #Gilbert, Chisholm (cpt), #Dlugonski (Urquhart 71), Brown, McWilliam (Kidd 60), Munro, McKenzie (Watt 71), Murray, Smith
Subs Not Used: Craib, McKenzie (gk)

Referee:  P.Cheyne