Jags go second after comfortable win
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
BUCKIE Thistle swept a lacklustre Lossiemouth team aside on Saturday afternoon with a commanding 5-0 win at Grant Park.
Sam Urquhart's brace and goals from Jack Murray, Kyle MacLeod and Mark McLauchlan completed a comfortable afternoon's work for the Jags as they moved up to second in the table.
They now sit just three points behind early pace setters Fraserburgh who saw their game against Formartine United postponed today.
Jags boss Graeme Stewart was "delighted" to claim all three points to keep the pressure on at the top of the table.
He said: "It's a tough place to come. We know they are a tough team here to play against so I'm over the moon. I would have taken any win today so I'm delighted to score five.
"We've been clinical lately but I still think we could have scored more to be totally honest. We lost a bit of shape in the second half with the subs and the injury so at that point I've got to be happy just to keep the clean sheet. That was the most important thing today. We lost a goal against Nairn and a goal against Clach which I thought was poor so a clean sheet today was great."
"We can't afford to drop any more points just now. We'll try and win all our games until January and see where that takes us. We know that there are teams above us that are going to be favourites but we're going to cling onto their coattails and you never know what can happen in this league. We've proved it before so we'll see what happens."
Buckie opened the scoring on Saturday afternoon with the first chance of the game. After a scrappy opening, Kevin Fraser provided the first moment of quality to deliver an inch perfect ball into the box for Urquhart to power home a fine diving header to put his side ahead.
Brodie Allen should have levelled things up for the hosts soon after but his effort was saved by Kevin Main before the Lossie front man headed the rebound wide.
Coasters boss Joe Russell had his head in his hands soon after when Ross Morrison blasted an effort over the bar from six yards out to waste another huge chance for the hosts.
Lossie were punished for their wastefulness soon after when Buckie doubled their lead before half time. Urquhart's harrying bore fruit as he pinched possession high up the pitch before laying the ball off for Murray on the edge of the box. The big centre back provided a sublime finish to guide his effort into the top corner to double his side's advantage.
The Jags looked to kill the game off after the break and did so five minutes into the second half. Fraser popped up to provide yet another assist when his fine cutback found MacLeod who duly applied the finishing touch to put the visitors out of sight.
Urquhart made it a brace after he tucked home Andy Macaskill's rebounded effort before McLauchlan rounded off the scoring with a fine drive from the edge of the box not long after.
Russell admitted his side had an off day as they struggled to contain the free scoring Jags.
He said: "We created some good chances in the first half, some really good ones and we just couldn't take them. That really came back to haunt us.
"We weren't good today at all. It was a really poor performance. There was nothing about us. We really are a Jekyll and Hyde team. Today was a bad one for sure. We just need to take it on the chin and go away in the next couple of weeks and make it better.
"The formation that we told them to play and the formation they played were two different things. All round it was just an off day."
Buckie will look to make it nine Highland League wins in a row when they welcome Turriff United to Victoria Park in a fortnight.
Meanwhile, Lossiemouth will be looking to bounce back with a trip to Inverurie to take on Locos next time out.
