Buckie Thistle continued their long winning streak with a crucial 5-0 victory over fellow title challengers Brora Rangers.
Marcus Goodall’s outstanding strike was followed by Max Barry’s double and goals from Jack Murray and Kyle MacLeod, with the Cattachs playing the final hour with 10 men following the dismissal of goalkeeper Lenny Wilson.
The home side began the night just a point adrift of leaders Fraserburgh, following an outstanding 17-game sequence of victories.
Brora were two points further behind having played a game more, with both sides buoyed by reaching the GPH Builders Merchants Highland League Cup final at the weekend.
With the stakes high, the game started at a frantic pace with both sides visibly eager to get on the front foot.
It was the Jags who made the early breakthrough in sublime style on 12 minutes however. Max Barry picked out the unmarked Marcus Goodall on the left angle of the penalty area with a floated pass, which the attacker audaciously took on the first-time time volley from 20 yards, with the sweetest of connections that left Wilson static.
Goodall should have doubled his tally just 60 seconds later, when he somehow failed to squeeze the ball home from point-blank range after Wilson had done well to keep out Jack Murray’s header.
Having survived that let-off the Cattachs looked for a way back into the game, with Ali Sutherland running the ball out of play when he tried to take Andrew Macrae’s through ball around Kevin Main.
Buckie continued to push however, with Sam Urquhart seeing a header comfortably saved by Wilson.
Thistle doubled their advantage on 28 minutes however. Wilson was unable to clear his lines from a Jags cross in a mix-up with his defence, with the ball dropping to Barry who had the simple task of sidefooting into the empty net.
Within 60 seconds Brora’s night got even worse when they were reduced to 10 men. Wilson had the ball in his grasp as he went to launch the ball upfield, with referee Joel Kennedy deeming he lashed out at Kevin Fraser who went to ground as he looked to close down the Cattachs goalkeeper. Although Wilson was shown his marching orders, the free-kick ultimately went Brora’s way.
That forced a change from Cattachs boss Craig Campbell, who sacrificed Andrew Macrae to bring on substitute goalkeeper Ruardhri Nicol.
The Jags could have made it three moments later, when Urquhart met a ball from the left on the volley but fired his effort into the side-netting.
Brora refused to give in however, and were inches from reducing the deficit five minutes before the break when Martin Maclean’s long-range strike came back off the post, with Sutherland’s rebound blocked by the legs of Main.
Any hopes Brora had of mounting a comeback were killed off just two minutes into the second half, when an Andy MacAskill corner was flicked on to the head of Jack Murray who nodded home from close-range.
Buckie added further damage in the closing stages when Barry tapped home Goodall’s cross at the far post, before substitute Kyle MacLeod nodded home to wrap up a comfortable victory.
