Highland League football’s 2024 was the year that saw a Scottish Cup trip to Celtic, Buckie Thistle’s crazy fixture congestion and title joy while Deveronvale, Keith and Huntly all made their mark
It was a year of fixture congestion, managerial change and Scottish Cup dream draws in Highland League football.
The curtain came down on 2024 with fond memories for followers of Buckie Thistle, Keith’s memorable undefeated run and a change in the hotseat at Deveronvale, sparking a big improvement in fortunes.
Huntly saw key players leave the club but bounced back with another cup final appearance and some strong league performances.
But if one club hogged the headlines last year, it was Buckie.
It began with eager anticipation of the biggest day in the club’s history, a Scottish Cup trip to Celtic Park where two clubs famous for wearing green and white hooped shirts met in front of a live TV audience on Sunday January 21.
A huge Jags army travelled south to see their team battle manfully with league champions Celtic, who would go on and win the competition after a 5-0 success over their Highland League opponents.
Rangers fan Josh Peters came so close to scoring the biggest goal of his career when he raced through on the home goal, and with the Buckie fans preparing to go wild, their hopes were dashed by a save from Celtic keeper Joe Hart.
While Jags were enjoying their cup glory day, their hopes of winning a first league title in seven years were being tested by the inadequacies of their home park.
Drainage issues rendered Victoria Park unplayable from November 18 until the end of February, forcing Buckie to play home matches in Banff and Lossiemouth and face a mounting fixtures backlog.
They started the year in fifth place having played just 13 of their scheduled 34 league matches, and added cup commitments meant that the club had to play 23 fixtures in the space of just over 11 weeks.
Meanwhile Keith started the year in the midst of a bad run, with a seven-game losing streak ended by a 1-0 success over Turriff United on Valentine’s Day.
That result was to flip around the Maroons’ campaign, as it sparked a superb ten-match undefeated sequence which included six wins, high flyers Inverurie Locos and Huntly among their victims.
Deveronvale’s form was stuttering, with a 2-0 victory over Forres Mechanics in January being their last until March when they pulled off a 3-1 derby success at Turriff.
Two games later, manager Craig Stewart departed following a 2-0 defeat at home to bottom club Strathspey thistle, with former players Grant Noble and Graeme Watt taking over for the rest of the campaign, overseeing a four-game unbeaten run.
Colin Charlesworth was finding his way as Huntly manager, appointed in December 2023 following Allan Hale’s departure to Elgin City.
Three consecutive defeats kicked off their year, but the next 12 Huntly games produced seven wins and two draws. One of those successes saw the Black and Golds hammer Strathspey 7-0, with striker Angus Grant scoring five first half goals.
They were stunned on March 20 when leading Keith at Christie Park going into stoppage time, former keeper Craig Reid came up for a maroons corner and netted a spectacular overhead kick to earn the visitors a point.
As for Buckie, they had to play a total of 12 midweek matches in three months, as well as their Saturday commitments, and the toll was beginning to tell.
Graeme Stewart’s side was managing to defeat all of their title rivals, only to falter to shock results in their following games. Despite beating Brechin and Fraserburgh twice as well as Banks o’ Dee, Formartine and Brora, Jags inexplicably lost at Nairn, Lossiemouth and Wick, as well as crashing to a stoppage time goal in their first home match in almost 100 days - Clach snatching a 3-2 success.
More slip-ups came with draws against Deveronvale and Inverurie, leaving Buckie nine points behind leaders Brechin with six games to play - those half-a-dozen matches being squeezed into a 13-day period.
With two games in hand, Buckie knew they had to win the lot and hope for a Brechin slip-up. The Glebe Park side duly went down at Fraserburgh on April 6, while Jags ticked off the wins to set up their third consecutive final day shoot-out on April 20.
Jags hosted Keith, and barring a high-scoring Brechin win at Brora they knew that victory would see them go one better than the previous two years’ heartaches and take the crown.
Max Barry’s early goal saw things run with script but a nervous ending to the match ensued, with Stewart’s men seeing it out for a 1-0 victory to spark wild celebrations inside the Viccy.
There was much more drama to follow, with Jags losing an Aberdeenshire Shield final to Inverurie on penalties, then discovering that they would be denied a shot at the SPFL play-offs due to not meeting club licensing criteria.
Manager Stewart then announced his decision to step down and focus on family and work, with his assistant Lewis Mackinnon taking over.
Along the coast in Banff, former Caley Thistle, Ross County and Elgin City striker Garry Wood was unveiled as Deveronvale’s new manager, bringing in a string of new signings in his bid to bolster Vale’s fortunes.
As well as a change of manager, Buckie had to contend with star players Jack Murray and Max Barry joining SPFL clubs, and their title defence got off to a tough start.
Jags lost all four Premier Sports Cup group matches including a 5-2 loss to Dundee United, and made it seven consecutive losses when they exited the SPFL Trust Trophy and were toppled by Inverurie and Fraserburgh in their opening two league fixtures.
Huntly started with back-to-back league wins, and striker Grant embarked on a stunning run of scoring form which was to see him clock up 25 goals by the end of 2024.
Deveronvale’s new crop of players were needing some time to gel, but a run of five straight losses was soon followed by an impressive surge of ten victories in their next 14 to propel the Princess Royal Park side into the top half of the league - a superb return from their new boss.
Keith were again finding goals hard to come by, but produced two sensational displays back-to-back at the end of August.
They were the first club to defeat high-flying Brora Rangers, doing it on their own patch in Sutherland with a famous 3-2 success after twice being behind.
Four days later the Maroons stunned Forres with a 4-0 success at Kynoch Park, and while wins did become harder to find as the year wore on, Keith made their mark in the Scottish Cup with a stunning win.
Goalkeeper Craig Reid was the hero of their penalty shoot-out success over Camelon, saving two kicks and scoring the winning strike himself.
It was the first of five wins in the Maroons’ next nine outings, marking a return to form for Craig Ewen’s men.
Huntly were really hitting the heights, clocking up four and five-match winning sequences and reaching the Aberdeenshire Cup final, where they lost 1-0 to the same Banks o’ Dee club who beat them in a Shire Shield final showdown less than two years earlier.
Buckie’s league challenge was fading fast with a string of surprise losses, but hopes were high of another Scottish Cup run when Carluke Rovers and Sauchie Juniors were despatched to leave Jags one step away from the fourth round, where they faced Celtic at the start of the year.
But two harsh red cards at Clydebank contributed to a 2-0 loss, banishing any chances the club had of another plum draw.
Worse followed in Buckie’s next match, as they led junior side Hermes 4-0 in an Aberdeenshire Shield tie only to crumble and lose 5-4.
What will this year bring to our Highland League clubs? It promises to be another fantastic year in north football.
