Boss Graeme Stewart hailed Buckie Thistle after they came from behind to beat Aberdeen and reach the Morrison Motors (Turriff) Aberdeenshire Shield final.
Two goals in two second half minutes earned the Jags a 3-2 win against a youthful Dons side at Victoria Park.
Buckie will face Huntly or Fraserburgh in the final and will be aiming to win the Shield for the third time in their history.
Thistle have lost in two finals since they last lifted silverware in 2017 and Stewart is pleased to have another shot at glory.
He said: “Scoring those two goals so quickly is what good teams do and what experienced teams do.
“Although our average age is quite young we’ve got boys with a lot of Highland League experience.
“We’ve got a great spirit, it’s the best changing room I’ve had at Buckie and when you’ve got that the boys will fight for each other.
“They love playing for Buckie. Other teams might have fallen apart there, but I don’t think we’re a team that falls apart.
“We need to go and win something, I think this team deserves to win something but you have to go and earn it.
“We’ve league games to concentrate on first but it’s good to have a final to look forward to.”
Jags fight back
Aberdeen broke the deadlock on seven minutes with Liam Harvey heading Adam Emslie’s cross from the right into the top right corner.
Buckie levelled on 21 minutes when Andrew MacAskill weaved in from the left and found the top right corner with a strike from 20 yards.
The Jags had a spell on top after that but were hit by a sucker punch on the stroke of half-time.
Emslie beat Mark McLauchlan on the right, advanced to the edge of box and rifled a shot beyond goalkeeper Lee Herbert.
Early in the second period Dons goalkeeper Blessing Oluyemi denied Max Barry then the Reds had four chances in quick succession.
Brendan Hamilton fired over and a combination of Sam Pugh and Herbert thwarted Kevin Hanratty.
Herbert made another save at his near post to keep out Emslie’s effort and then Hanratty hit the left post with a strike from the left side of the area.
Buckie equalised again on 77 minutes when Kyle MacLeod tapped home after Joe McCabe headed down MacAskill’s free-kick.
A minute later it was 3-2. Scott Adams dispossessed Finlay Murray and with Aberdeen looking for a foul Adams set up MacAskill to net from 14 yards.
In the closing stages, Hanratty was sent off by referee Kevin Buchanan for a kick out at Barry and Adams hit the crossbar from 18 yards.
Good experience
Dons manager Barry Robson said: “I thought we handled the conditions well and played some really good stuff at times and we were a threat in transition.
“I think anyone who watched the game would say we should have six or seven goals given how good we were in transition.
“But we didn’t take our chances and credit to Buckie because they took theirs.
“It’s good to be in these positions and what an experience for 16 and 17-year-olds playing against men.”
