Former Buckie Thistle manager Gregg Carrol believes the Jags can win the Highland League title this season.
Carrol, pictured, who won two league titles with Deveronvale and Buckie, watched Thistle beat Cove Rangers on penalties in the Aberdeenshire Cup final at Turriff on Saturday.
Carrol said: “I wouldn’t like to put any added pressure on Buckie manager Graeme Stewart’s shoulders, but I reckon he has a squad of players more than capable of winning the Highland League.
“Graeme has been there twice as a player in winning the title so he knows what it takes, but it is only November and titles aren’t won now.”
Carrol is also a four-time winner of the Aber-deenshire Cup and was delighted Stewart recently won his first trophy in management.
He added: “Graeme, his coach Stephen Bruce, centre back Lewis MacKinnon and forwards Chris Angus and Andy Low were all signed by me for Buckie, so it was great to see them win the cup.
“The last time the Jags lifted the Aberdeenshire Cup was also at Turriff – against Cove when I was manager in 2009. We won 2-0 that day with Steven Bruce scoring both.
“Graeme keeps in touch and now he has won his first trophy as a manager it takes a bit of pressure off of him.
“He wants to win every game, as soon as a manager wins that first trophy they want to win more and get a taste for winning.
“He has done the right thing in taking his coaching badges and has assembled a good bunch of players who are giving their all for him. That stands out a mile – and he has their respect, even more so now he has won a trophy as a manager.”
The final was an incredible match, with Buckie coming back from 2-0 and ended the 120 minutes with nine men.
Carrol added: “Buckie deserved to win, even when they went down to nine men with 25 minutes still to play in extra time against a very good Cove side. Make no mistake about that. If they had scored with their second-minute penalty it may not have gone to extra time and penalties.”