Graeme Stewart praised Buckie Thistle for prevailing in their “must-win” clash with Nairn County to go top of the Breedon Highland League.
The Jags won 3-1 at Station Park and, with Brechin’s game against Fraserburgh postponed, the Moray side moved two points clear at the summit, having played two games more than the Hedgemen.
Manager Stewart said: “I’m delighted with the win. Nairn are flying, Steven Mackay’s a good manager and I was impressed with a lot of their play, so it’s a great win.
“It’s nice to be top of the league, but Brechin have games in hand and Brora are flying.
“I think Brora are the team nobody’s speaking about, but I’ve been so impressed by them.
“There are two really good teams challenging in Brora and Brechin and we need to keep with them.
“I don’t know if other teams can get involved, but those two will definitely be up there and we need to be beside them.
“We’re there at the moment and we need to keep winning games. This was probably a must-win.
“Not all the games are must-win, one or two aren’t, but this one was – if we’ve got aspirations to win the league, we had to win.”
Hosts Nairn strike first
The game started at a frantic tempo with Josh Peters forcing Nairn goalkeeper Dylan MacLean into a save after 50 seconds.
It was the Wee County who broke the deadlock from the penalty spot in the seventh minute. Jack Murray was penalised by referee Scott Donohoe for a shove on Andrew Greig at a throw-in.
Ross Tokely – who has signed a contract extension for next season – stepped up and found the right top corner from 12 yards.
On 17 minutes, Tokely was perhaps fortunate to stay on the pitch. Peters got in behind the experienced defender, who tugged him back, and the striker stumbled and fell.
Had ref Donohoe deemed it a foul, it would have had to have been a red card for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity, but the official allowed play to continue.
Buckie equalised in the 24th minute and it was goal made and finished by Max Barry.
The midfielder’s excellent pass released Peters on the right side of the box and, although MacLean made a good save, Barry followed up to slot home the rebound.
The Jags had a good spell after scoring with Murray and Barry both going close, but County held firm until the break.
Early in the second half, the home side were close to retaking the lead with Fraser Dingwall’s towering header from a Greig corner cleared off the line.
The next goal was always likely to be important and Buckie got it on 57 minutes.
Andrew MacAskill’s corner from the right was headed into the top right corner by Joe McCabe.
Three minutes later, Buckie increased their advantage when Scott Adams’ flick on was missed by Dingwall and Peters raced through on goal, rounded MacLean and finished.
Nairn still had time to mount a comeback, but they found it difficult to carve out clear-cut chances in the last half hour.
The closest County came to setting up a grandstand finish was in the 87th minute when Ciaran Young wriggled clear inside the box, but goalkeeper Lee Herbert was out quickly to smother the shot.
Work to do – Wee County boss Mackay
Nairn manager Steven Mackay started himself and, although disappointed to see their nine-game unbeaten run in all competitions come to an end, he was far from despondent.
The 41-year-old added: “I think there is encouragement to take from it. We could never fault the work ethic of the boys.
“We’ve been on a good run and this was always going to be a good test to see where we’re at.
“I think at times we were a little bit naive in how we defended as a team.
“We’re three months into a long journey at Nairn, there’s plenty of work for us to do and we look forward to doing it.
“David Hind and Brian MacLeod twisted my arm (to play) – we were just looking for a little bit of experience and I was hoping to go in and help organise us with the press.
“I always enjoy playing, I didn’t get involved as much as I would have liked, but that’s credit to Buckie and how they played.”
