Buckie Thistle summer signing Fraser Robertson says no-one should rule out the Highland League champions after their 7-1 thrashing of Banffshire derby rivals Deveronvale
Don’t write the champions off in the chase for Highland League honours.
That’s the message from Buckie Thistle summer signing Fraser Robertson after his team’s stunning 7-1 derby win at Deveronvale on Saturday.
Robertson scored his first goal for Jags since his move from Rothes and Buckie ran riot at Princess Royal Park to ignite their campaign after a disappointing start.
The champs had lost two and drawn one of the opening four matches of their title defence, and Robertson hopes Saturday’s resounding success is the catalyst for a Jags resurgence.
Dropping eight points so early in the season has been uncharacteristic of Buckie in recent years and has led many to rule them out of retaining their crown this term.
“It’s not been the greatest start for us but I wouldn't be ruling us out of challenging for anything at this stage,” said the 28-year-old.
“With (leaders) Brora losing to Keith (on Saturday) it shows you what can happen in this league, and some of the teams who were classed as bottom half teams are well capable of taking points off anyone on their day.
“We just need to put a run together now and gain some momentum.”
Another bad Buckie result looked on the cards when former player Harry Noble gave Vale an early lead, but Robertson’s equaliser was almost immediate.
Two goals apiece from Josh Peters and Lyall Keir and one each for Joe McCabe and Jack MacIver guided Jags to an easy victory.
Robertson’s goal, which was initially credited by his club’s social media to team-mate Peters, won’t go down as the most memorable of his career.
“I’ve done my best to miss it,” he said. “It came across the goal and I sclaffed at it, the keeper saved it and it bounced back and came off my shoulder and went in.
“They all count so I’ll take it.”
Robertson said his team’s polished victory was coming, as the team had missed so many scoring chances in their previous matches that the goals had to come sooner rather than later.
“It’s not that we have played too badly but more a case of not taking our chances but at Vale we were very clinical. To get seven goals in a game, it’s been a long time coming for us.
“We have been saying for a few weeks that once we start taking chances, results like that would happen so it was good to get some goals and some confidence back in the team.
“We have been working on finishing in training so it's nice to see it come together and pay off. The manager wants me to try and add to the goals in the team so it was nice to get on the scoresheet for the first time.”
Robertson joined Rothes from Clach five years ago and was part of the Speysiders team which won the Highland League Cup - beating Buckie in the final - and North of Scotland Cup under previous manager Ross Jack.
“The first couple of years, we won two trophies and it was all going very well. The latter years maybe didn’t go as we had hoped and for myself, I felt it was time for a change.”
He revealed how his move to Buckie was originally negotiated by their title-winning manager Graeme ‘Spider’ Stewart, who handed over the reins to current boss :Lewis Mackinnon after the title success in April.
“I did the initial conversations with Spider before he decided to step away from it all, so it was agreed with him. Lewis just picked up where Spider left off and that was it.”
Robertson wants a run of victories starting with Wednesday’s home match against bottom side Strathspey Thistle, followed by the visit of leaders Brechin City on Saturday.
“Hopefully we can get another positive result and performance on Wednesday, but we know it won’t be easy against Strathspey. We played them in pre-season and they gave us a bit of a shock (a 3-2 Strathspey win) so hopefully we can put in a good performance and bring some confidence into Saturday’s game against Brechin.
“Brora were going well but Brechin are always going to be considered one of the favourites and you can’t argue with that when you see how they’ve started.
“With the way we have started, Saturday is massive for us and we really want that three points to get us back on track.
“The league table isn’t the prettiest reading for us just now but a couple of wins would put us back up there. It’s still very early days.”
