PICTURES: Risk brings reward for Buckie Thistle as manager Graeme Stewart praises team's Victoria Park display in Saturday's 6-0 Highland League win over Nairn County
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Buckie Thistle manager Graeme Stewart urged his men to take more risks in Saturday's league clash with Nairn County, and it brought rich reward.
Six different Jags players were on target in a 6-0 victory which lifted the team to second spot in the league behind new leaders Huntly.
Stewart's side endured a rocky September, during which they suffered a shock League Cup defeat at Keith followed by a first league loss at Banks O' Dee.
Drawing a scoring blank in both of those fixtures prompted a different tactical approach, culminating in last weekend's 4-0 Scottish Cup success at Tayport - then Saturday's thumping win over Nairn.
"It was six different scorers which doesn’t normally happen," Stewart said.
"We spoke recently about the front players taking more risks. We are playing people like Max Barry and Andrew MacAskill - who was suspended on Saturday - Jack MacIver, Josh Peters and Marcus Goodall, and I said to them that I felt they were maybe playing a little bit too safe.
"We talked about it before the game (against Nairn) and mentioned that we want them to take risks and lose the ball - I know that doesn’t sound right but we spoke about taking more risks with the ball.
"I felt we were keeping possession for the sake of keeping possession at times so on Saturday they were very aggressive and forward thinking in their play, took chances and that led to opportunities.
"Max, Jack, Josh and Marcus were outstanding and it came from being very direct with their play."
All four were on target in an easy Jags success.
Peters struck early and was denied a second by a good save before MacIver added a second midway through the first half with his first competitive goal for the club.
Another first arrived in first half stoppage time when summer signing Dale Wood crashed home a drive to open his Buckie scoring account.
Barry made it 4-0 just after half time and the victory was wrapped up by further goals by Scott Adams and Goodall.
"It was probably one of if not the best of the season, certainly up there in terms of the way that I want to play and the guys following out the game plan. I thought they were excellent," Stewart said.
"I was absolutely thrilled with it. There weren't many negatives - well I don’t call them negatives, I call them areas for improvement after a game and there were not too many things I could pick out. Overall the boys were outstanding."
The Buckie boss spoke about MacIver and Wood's first scoring contributions for the club and their impact on the match.
"Jack’s finishing is superb, you should see him in training. He hits the post and the bar a lot of the time trying to be too precise but he strikes a good ball and finishes well.
"I think that’s his first competitive goal but he should be aiming for 15 for the season like Max Barry can do. They both have that ability and being two of the best midfield players in the league, we are fortunate and delighted to have them both.
"Dale has been superb. He’s such a nice lad, always smiling and friendly and he is just an ideal player to manage, he just gets on with it and always gives you 100 per cent.
"He’s got quality about him, he is probably under-rated with his football ability because a lot of the things he does goes unnoticed and like Sam Pugh they will sometimes go under the radar but their contribution to the team is just as important as the rest."
Buckie have also signed Aberdeen midfielder Kevin Hanratty on loan, the former Elgin City and Formartine United player making his debut against Nairn.
This weekend, Buckie host Brechin City in a repeat of last season's title decider, which Brechin won with two late goals to snatch the league trophy and complete a league double over Jags.
It's a game which could have a big bearing on the destiny of this year's championship, yet Stewart won't put it into his thoughts until after Wednesday night's potentially tricky league trip to Rothes.
"Rothes are playing well, they won at Locos on Saturday and have picked up a few results of late. We know how tough playing Rothes is, we have never had an easy game against them.
"They drew with us last season at our place and beat us the year before when we finished second again. We won’t take anything for granted.
"Ross Jack is a very good manager who gets his team set up where they are hard to beat and they break well, they will be fit, strong and aggressive.
"We can’t look any further forward than that game because it’s one where we will need to be at our very best to get a result.
"We can’t have even one eye on the Brechin game. You don’t know how we will play at Rothes or if we get injuries. You don’t think you are going to win 6-0 against Nairn so maybe my thinking for the team on Wednesday changes as a result of that.
"You always look at the next game, and if we don’t win against Rothes there’s no point in thinking about Brechin. We need to get a win against Rothes and that takes all the priority in our thinking and our focus."
Stewart revealed that club captain Kevin Fraser finally had surgery on the thigh problem which has kept him out for the past year, and a recovery programme has been put in place with the hope of the midfielder returning to action in the New Year.
