Keith progress to Highland League Cup semi-finals with shock win against Buckie
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KEITH manager Craig Ewen praised his side's defensive solidity as they knocked Buckie Thistle out of the Highland League Cup on Saturday.
After the quarter-final tie finished 0-0 at Kynoch Park, an inspired performance from Maroons goalkeeper Craig Reid saw the hosts run out 3-1 winners in the shoot-out.
It is the first time Keith have made it to the semi-finals of the cup for 10 years after they went all the way in 2013.
Ewen said: "I'm delighted. We made it really difficult to play through us.
"Our goalkeeper was excellent the whole way through. When it comes down to penalties it's always a lottery but fair play, Craig (Reid) has made a couple of really top saves so all credit goes to the players.
"We were big underdogs so any time you pick up a result like this it's outstanding for the boys and for the club so we're absolutely delighted to get through."
A disciplined defensive performance from Keith on Saturday restricted the much fancied Jags to mostly speculative efforts from outside the box.
After a scrappy first half, the Jags started to exert more pressure in the second but it wasn't until the 80th minute that they created their first clear cut opportunity of the game.
A teasing delivery from Andrew MacAskill from the right came all the way through for Darryl McHardy but the former Elgin City man saw his effort blocked from five yards out by Reid.
McHardy thought he had won it in injury time when he slotted an effort beyond Reid only to be flagged for offside.
In the shoot-out, an early Josh Peters miss for Buckie coupled with Reid saving MacAskill and Sam Pugh's penalties gave Liam Duncan the opportunity to send Keith through to the semi-finals.
And the midfielder made no mistake from the spot to send the Maroons through.
Ewen insists his side are a more competitive outfit this season as they try to avoid "big score lines" as well as go deep in the cup competitions.
"Our shape shape was excellent," Ewen said. "Buckie had more pressure in the second half but that tends to happen.
"We dropped a wee bit deeper but thankfully for us whenever they did get a chance to shoot, it was from distance and Craig was always in the right place.
"For me what's really pleasing is us making improvements to compete better with the best teams in the league.
"I'm sure we'll get one or two before the end of the season but we're really trying to avoid those big score lines this year.
"We're trying to be more competitive. That's how you get a wee bit more of the rub of the green and that's how things can happen like they did today."
Buckie Thistle manager Graeme Stewart was disappointed to exit the cup but insisted his side performed well during the game.
Stewart said: "“I’m frustrated we lost and that we’re out of the cup but I thought the performance was decent.
“We can play that game 20 times and win it at least 19 times.
“You can have games like that.
“I’m not worried about the penalties. It shouldn’t have gone to penalties but once it does it’s always a lottery.
“You can see there, top players missing their penalties so I’m more annoyed that we didn’t take our chances in the game.
“They didn’t have chance. Our keeper’s not had a save. We’re disappointed but we’ve got to be realistic with the performance and we’re not going to get overly concerned by it.”
