Dufftown crashed out of the Morrison Cup as league leaders Inverness City comfortably won this second round match.

With fellow co-manager Rab Mulheron absent it was left to Willie Duncan to deal with team affairs and he made one change to the side that was defeated by Buckie Rovers last weekend, Rab Coll replacing Colin Fraser.

Inverness almost opened the scoring after just three minutes.  Bruce McGraw did well, rounding Dufftown 'keeper Martin Taylor before seeing his shot deflected by Dufftown's Gary Lamberton behind for a corner.

The opening goal was only the be sightly delayed however and arrived after 12 minutes.  A poor headed clearance from Gary Lamberton saw the ball find its way to Bruce McGraw who scored with a low drive beyond Taylor.

A poor clearance by Dufftown 'keeper Taylor after 22 minutes almost cost his side dearly, fortunately for Dufftown though Inverness attacker Stevie Sanderson was unable to take advantage and the danger was averted.

There were loud appeals for a Dufftown penalty after 37 minutes, striker Rab Coll's cross into the Inverness penalty area appeared to strike the hand of a City defender but referee John Nicolson waved away these appeals.

Dufftown grabbed the equalising goal in first half stoppage time.  A free-kick was awarded some 25 yards out and up stepped Rab Coll to exquisitely curl the ball round the Inverness wall and into City 'keeper Ian Pearce's top corner - a superb effort.

Into the second half and Inverness were to edge head after 51 minutes.  Striker Gary Miller had been causing the Dufftown defence numerous problems throughout the afternoon and it was he who was brought down inside the penalty area by Paul Lamberton.  Up stepped Jordan MacDonald to slam the ball home into Martin Taylor's left hand corner.

Inverness made it 3-1 after 65 minutes and again it was poor defensive play by Dufftown that allowed the goal to happen. This time it was Blair MacDonald who was at fault, dallying on the ball and allowing Stevie Sanderson to drive in a swerving shot which beat 'keeper Taylor and landed in the corner of the net.

Dufftown created a chance to get back into the match with 9 minutes remaining.  Mark Sanderson did well to find Alan Shearer who had beaten the Inverness offside trap but unfortunately his weak effort was straight at home 'keeper Pearce and he made a comfortable save.

Inverness got their fourth and final goal of the match with two minutes remaining.  Once again it was Stevie Sanderson who grabbed the goal, firing the ball past Martin Taylor and into the corner of the net.

The final whistle was blown and Dufftown's dreams of cup glory are over for another year.  Attention now turns to next Saturday's crucial home match against relegation rivals Parkvale.