It’s been goals galore when watching Strathspey Thistle lately.
For manager Charlie Brown though, he is determined to see his players shut the back door in a bid to give themselves a chance of climbing the Highland League table.
During their five fixtures in October, there have been 35 goals scored, but only 12 for second-bottom Strathspey.
A thrilling 7-3 rout of Fort William has been followed by an 8-1 defeat by Brora Rangers, a 3-0 home loss to Formartine United, a last-gasp 2-1 defeat against Nairn County and Saturday’s 7-3 reversal at Brechin City.
Buckie Thistle, who had their midweek match with Nairn County postponed due to a waterlogged pitch, visit Seafield Park on Saturday in their first game since their 4-1 Scottish Cup defeat at League Two leaders Kelty Hearts.
Last weekend’s Buckie v Wick Academy tie was also washed away with the downpours.
Thanks to our volunteers who have been busy distributing matchday leaflets for Saturday's game. pic.twitter.com/ALMVreCRbo
— Strathspey Thistle FC (Official) (@JagsStfc) November 2, 2021
Buckie boss Graeme Stewart this week revealed his players have been set a target of finishing 2021 without any more defeats as they aim to bridge the 12-point gap between themselves and runaway leaders Fraserburgh.
Brechin, Rothes and Inverurie Locos sit between Buckie and the Broch, all three points in front of Stewart’s troops.
Boss ready for fired-up Buckie
Brown has warned his players to expect their opponents flying at them from the word go.
He said: “Buckie will be strong. Graeme will have them fired up, regardless of games being off over the past week.
“It’s another tough fixture for us. We’ve not played Buckie this season, but I’ve heard great reports about them. They are really strong and are a good football side, as well as being a big team.
“It will be a battle and hopefully our boys will be up for it as well. We have shown we can compete against some of the best teams. We need to get stuck in about them and hopefully we can get a result.
“Buckie will come out firing at us. They’ll want the game dead and buried sharp, so they can relax, so we need to be alert from the first whistle.”
Pressure on Buckie to get the win
With Buckie having no margin for error to play with, Brown hopes his players can cut out costly errors to give themselves a chance, both in this and future matches.
He added: “The pressure is all on Buckie. We’ve had a tough run of fixtures over the past five weeks, but I have said to the players these games won’t define our season.
“Yes, it’s great to try and pick points up against the top teams, but it’s all about performances and maintaining a strong bond for the games coming up after Buckie.
“We have been scoring goals. I know we’ve also been heavily defeated, but some of the performances during these games has been pleasing for me. We’ve just switched off with minor errors and got punished for it.
“We’ve given teams opportunities and they’ve scored from them. When you’re near the bottom of the league, these things go against you.
“We just have to keep believing that we’ll win some games and the points will soon go on the board. Hopefully they can do that and we’ll get the results our performances are meriting.”
Two-goal lead was not in the plan
The Strathspey manager explained his advice to keep it tight against Brechin City went out the window swiftly as his team stunned their hosts by taking a shock two-goal lead.
The #StrathyJags on their way to @BrechinCityFC for todays game. pic.twitter.com/UefKZ63UNp
— Strathspey Thistle FC (Official) (@JagsStfc) October 30, 2021
Despite the final outcome, Brown reckons his players showed enough quality to suggest they can improve further.
He said: “We asked the players on Saturday to stay in the game and not give them any hope or chances. Then we find ourselves 2-0 up, so that went right out the window. It would have been great to be 2-0 at Brechin with 10 minutes to go.
“We were very positive against Brechin and our heads didn’t go down when we conceded, so we know what we’re capable of.”
Chris Innes returned to training this week to bolster Brown’s options, while James Fraser has recovered from a calf strain, meaning the visitors should have a full squad to pick from.
