Buckie Thistle progressed to the semi-final of the Morrison Motors (Turriff) Aberdeenshire Shield with a 3-0 victory against Formartine United at Victoria Park.
Sam Urquhart’s brace either side of Max Barry’s strike secured the Jags’ place in the last four.
Buckie will again be at home in the next round when they face Banks o’ Dee.
Jags on the front foot
It was United who had the first decent opening with Scott Lisle breaking clear down the left flank.
The striker danced beyond a couple of Buckie defenders but lashed his shot over the bar after cutting into the penalty area.
In the 13th minute the Jags had a sight of goal when a mix-up between Jonny Crawford and goalkeeper Balint Demus allowed Andrew MacAskill to get a shot away.
Demus blocked the effort with his arm outside the area and was booked by referee Filippo Mazzoni, despite Buckie’s protests that the custodian should have been sent off.
The home side spent the bulk of the first half on the front foot asking questions of Formartine’s back five.
But the Pitmedden side did show their threat at times on the counter-attack, with the pace of Lisle causing some problems.
Shortly after the half hour mark Jack Murray’s header from MacAskill’s corner was blocked on the goal line by a Formartine defender.
In the 39th minute a mistake by Mark McLauchlan gave Lisle an opportunity, but when he teed up Daniel Park inside the box Sam Morrison and Hamish Munro were alert to the danger.
At the other end Kevin Fraser had the ball in the net after MacAskill’s deflected shot broke for him, but Fraser was flagged offside.
Right on the stroke of half-time the Jags took the lead with MacAskill’s ball in behind releasing Fraser and although he was clipped on the edge of the area he still managed to find Urquhart who slotted the ball beyond Demus.
Hosts double their advantage
Just 70 seconds into the second period Buckie doubled their lead, with Formartine dismayed by referee Mazzoni’s decision not to award a foul.
Max Barry won possession from Aaron Norris on the left side of the area.
Norris went to ground and with United appealing for a foul which wasn’t forthcoming Barry fired a low left-foot shot across Demus and into the bottom right corner.
At the other end Kieran Lawrence tested goalkeeper Kevin Main with a stinging drive from 20 yards as Formartine searched for a route back into the tie.
In the 61st minute Buckie put the outcome beyond doubt with Fraser playing Urquhart through on goal and he confidently drilled the ball beyond Demus.
Despite Formartine introducing Kevin Hanratty and Andrew Greig from the bench they still struggled to test Main in the Buckie goal.
In the dying embers the Jags could have bagged a fourth but Stuart Anderson made a block on the goal line to prevent Scott Adams’ shot finding the net.
Buckie will hope they can go all the way in the Aberdeenshire Shield and win their first silverware since the Breedon Highland League title in 2017.
