Captain Kevin Fraser grabbed a dramatic injury-time winner as Buckie Thistle overcame a determined Wick Academy side 2-1 at Victoria Park.
Substitute Kyle MacLeod had earlier levelled matters within two minutes of Ryan Campbell’s opener for the visitors midway through the second half.
Jags boss Graeme Stewart was pleased with the win, but not the performance of his side.
He said: “I’m delighted with the three points, but the less said about how we played, the better. I don’t think we played well at all.
“You can make excuses about injuries, or boys have played a lot of games, but I think we looked a bit leggy in the second half.”
Wick boss frustrated at late winner
Wick player-manager Gary Manson, who received a late red card for dissent, lamented another late show from Buckie.
He said: “It was pretty similar to the game in April where we had a good shape about us, were hard to break down and didn’t concede many chances.
“Our goalkeeper did have a couple of good saves, but you expect that when you come here.
“I’ll need to watch it back, but their second goal was contentious put it that way.”
The visitors took the lead in the 67th minute, Gordon McNab’s pass split the home defence and Halliday drew Balint Demus before squaring for Ryan Campbell to tap into an empty net.
The lead lasted just two minutes as Shaun Wood’s header into the box was played into MacLeod by Fraser, and MacLeod fired beyond Graeme Williamson into the far corner from eight yards.
Buckie found a winner on 92 minutes when Andrew MacAskill’s far post cross was knocked down by Murray. Williamson blocked MacLeod’s effort but the ball ran kindly for Fraser to poke home.
Reid double gives Turriff opening day win
An Aaron Reid brace saw Turriff United come from behind to record a 2-1 opening day win over Huntly at the Haughs.
It was a first Turriff home win over their opponents since August 2016 and United manager Dean Donaldson was delighted to see his side grind out the win after going down to 10 men.
Huntly took the lead in the 32nd minute when Gavin Elphinstone burst down the right flank and delivered into the back post for Andrew Hunter, but the ball came off Turriff captain James Chalmers and into the net for an own goal.
Turriff levelled six minutes later when a low shot from Reid took a deflection to find the net.
A minute into first half stoppage time, a Liam Cheyne free-kick into the Huntly goalmouth was headed away by Kyle Dalling and, when Robbie Foster failed to clear at the edge of the box, it was quickly worked to Aaron Reid to fire in his second of the afternoon.
Turriff were reduced to 10 men in the 68th minute when Cheyne saw red for a two-footed challenge on Gavin Elphinstone.
Huntly had a chance to draw level four minutes later when they were awarded a penalty but Hunter’s effort went over the crossbar.
Donaldson said: “We rode our luck with the penalty, which I didn’t think was a penalty but over the 90 minutes I thought we were the better team.
“We had the better chances and deserved to win.”
The defeat means the Black and Golds’ wait for their first opening day win since 2016 continues and manager Allan Hale insisted Turriff deserved their victory.
He said: “They were sharper, hungrier and done the basics far better than we did.
“Even when we had a man advantage after the red card, I thought we were casual with our work and didn’t play with any aggression.”
