Ewan Loudon was delighted Brechin City demonstrated their champion qualities to win the Breedon Highland League title in dramatic fashion against Buckie Thistle.
The Hedgemen needed to win, while the Jags needed to avoid defeat to win the league, and in the 87th minute sub Loudon struck to spark jubilation among the large travelling support at a packed out Victoria Park.
Grady McGrath’s counter deep in stoppage time made it 2-0 and secured victory and a shot at the pyramid play-offs, in which they will face Lowland League champions Spartans on Saturday.
Loudon, 19, said: “It means a lot to me I’m just starting my career, to win a league title is massive and I’m buzzing about it.
“Personally I had full belief we’d do it, I was confident all week.
“The boys looked up for it in training. On Wednesday night when we beat Keith there was a feeling that we wouldn’t lose this.
“We had that self-belief and personally I didn’t have any doubts.
“We were a bit off it in the first half, but in the second half we showed we’re the best team in the league.”
Words of wisdom
Reflecting on his goal Loudon revealed the words of assistant manager Stephen Simmons were ringing in his ears.
He added: “When I was coming on Simmo was telling me ‘just shoot at any opportunity with the wind behind us.’
“The first time I got it I had a shot which got deflected then the second time it broke for me in the middle of the pitch.
“A boy came to tackle me and I’ve gone by him and I thought ‘I’m going to have to have a go here.’
“It’s taken a wee nick on its way and I just saw it sail into the bottom corner – what a feeling it was.”
It’s been a remarkable journey for Brechin to win the Highland League in their second season in the division.
Last term they finished third and this campaign they lost just one game in the league, conceded only 16 goals in 34 fixtures, as well as scoring 101 times.
Rebuild reaps success
Manager Andy Kirk took charge in the summer of 2021 after the Hedgemen had suffered three relegations in four seasons to drop from the Championship to the Highland League.
He said: “We had three players signed, we had to find new training facilities, new training kit, we had to do everything.
“Fair play to everyone behind the scenes at the club they’ve made it happen and they’ve always tried to facilitate everything we’ve asked for.
“Our job was to build a team and last year was difficult with the timescale we had.
“It takes a bit of time to build a team and we were talking about signing a full squad.
“This pre-season we started off with a better number and we recruited a bit differently and probably how we wanted to at the outset.
“To achieve it in two seasons is fantastic and there are a huge amount of people at the club on and off the pitch who deserve a huge amount of credit.
“We didn’t play particularly great, but it wasn’t about that, it was about winning the game.
“Coming to Buckie needing to win is never easy, I’m absolutely delighted for everyone involved with the club.
“The players have been fantastic over the course of the season and I think they deserve it.”
Late drama on last day
The fans poured into Victoria Park when the turnstiles opened at 1.15pm and they saw Buckie have the better of the first half.
On 12 minutes Hamish Munro’s long ball was missed by Nathan Cooney and Hamish Thomson which let Josh Peters in and although his shot beat onrushing goalkeeper Lenny Wilson, Euan Spark got back to clear off the line.
Buckie appealed the ball had crossed the line but referee Harry Bruce and linesman Darren Munro disagreed.
In the 26th minute MacAskill’s free-kick broke for Peters, Spark made a superb block, before Sam Pugh’s blast from 18 yards was cleared by Thomson.
On 35 minutes Marcus Goodall stung Wilson’s palms with a strike from the edge of the box.
Brechin weren’t at their best in the first period and Jags goalkeeper Balint Demus wasn’t tested.
The Hedgemen made a brighter start to the second half with Marc Scott floating a cross-cum-shot narrowly over.
After an hour Jamie Bain’s free-kick was flicked on by Botti Biabi and Pugh had to hook over his own crossbar under pressure from Grady McGrath.
From the corner which followed Buckie countered and MacAskill played Peters in behind but the alert Wilson raced out of his goal to clear in the nick of time.
As time ticked down Buckie were sitting deeper with Brechin pushing more bodies forward and three minutes from time the deadlock was broken.
Loudon skipped away from a couple of challenges and his low right-footed shot from 20 yards took a slight deflection off Kyle MacLeod and nestled in the bottom left corner.
Buckie desperately tried to conjure up an equaliser in the dying embers. Kevin McHattie made a superb block to deny Peters and Goodall’s follow-up swerved wide.
In the 95th minute Biabi released McGrath and he made no mistake when through one on one.
Teams
Buckie Thistle (4-1-4-1) – Demus 7, McCabe 7, Munro 7, Murray 7, Ramsay 7; Pugh 8; Goodall 7, Barry 7 (MacLeod 66), MacAskill 7, Urquhart 7 (Adams 80), Peters 7.
Subs not used – MacKinnon, Fyffe, McLauchlan, Keir, Herbert.
Brechin City (3-4-3) – Wilson 8, Spark 7, Thomson 7, Cooney 6 (Northcott 52); Bain 7 (McDonald 77), Inglis 7 (Loudon 67), MacLeod 7, McHattie 8; Scott 7, McGrath 7, Biabi 7.
Subs not used – Cruickshank, McArthur, Ferguson, Easton.
Referee – Harry Bruce 7.
Man of the match – Kevin McHattie.
