Buckie Thistle boss Graeme Stewart described Max Barry as the best player in the Breedon Highland League after their triumph against Brechin City.
Midfielder Barry netted twice – the second of which was an 89th minute winner – as the Jags claimed a crucial three points in the title race with a 3-2 victory at Glebe Park.
The Hedgemen remain top of the table, but Thistle are nine points behind and have four games in hand.
Stewart said: “Max was outstanding – he’s the best player in the league just now.
“He was driving the team on, I said to him before the game to become a leader and he is.
“We’re fortunate to have someone of his ability. I think the Highland League is fortunate to have someone of his ability in the league.
“He’s outstanding and could play just about any level in Scottish football – but we’ll try to keep him as long as we can.”
Reflecting on his side’s performance and the impact of the result on the title race Stewart added: “I think we deserved to win.
“We had to work hard for our three goals and then from our point of view we’ve gifted them two, especially the second one.
“It was shocking defending, if it had finished 2-2 I’d have been ripping them apart, but again we showed character.
“There’s a long way to go. There’s still three or four teams that could win it – we’re not getting carried away – it’s only three points.”
Exciting opening
Brechin took the lead in the 12th minute when Marc Scott exchanged passes with Ewan Loudon and broke into the box on the right.
Scott’s low ball across came off Sam Pugh and was blocked by Jags goalkeeper Tom Ritchie, but Danny Handling finished from close range on the rebound.
Within three minutes Buckie were level. A good move culminated in Joe McCabe finding Jack MacIver on the right and his first time cross was met by Barry’s excellent diving header from 12 yards which flew into the top left corner.
Midway through the first period Brechin had a penalty appeal turned down by referee Greg Soutar when Ritchie slid in to divert the ball away from Jamie Richardson as he bore down on goal.
Aberdeen loanee Ritchie was involved again on 34 minutes, doing well to tip over a Euan Spark header from Handling’s free-kick on the right.
At the other end Barry fired narrowly wide with a shot from 20 yards.
Buckie took the lead in the 55th minute. Brechin goalkeeper Jamie McCabe spilled Hamish Munro’s high ball into the box with Jack Murray first to react to find Barry, whose attempt was blocked, but Josh Peters gleefully finished on the follow-up from six yards.
The contest continued at a terrific tempo, but chances were harder to come by.
Late drama
As time ticked down the Hedgemen tried to turn to screw and they equalised on 81 minutes. A long throw from Scott on the right was flicked on and sub Matthew Wright – who is on-loan from Ross County – was unmarked and netted from close range.
But there was more drama in this enthralling encounter as the Jags snatched the points in the 89th minute.
Brechin custodian McCabe did well to thwart Peters from point-blank range, but from the resultant MacIver corner the ball broke for Barry at the back post and he weaved inside and finished into the bottom left corner from 15 yards.
There was still time for Buckie player-assistant manager Lewis MacKinnon to be sent off.
He was subbed on in the fourth minute of injury time and almost immediately was booked for pulling down Loudon and received a second yellow and red card five minutes later for a foul on Grady McGrath.
Brechin manager Gavin Price said: “I don’t think we managed the game very well in the closing minutes. Our own mistakes have led to our downfall.
“It’s disappointing, particularly with the goals we lose. We came out on the wrong side of it due to a bit of naivety which we shouldn’t have with the experience we’ve got in our team.
“There’s about a third of the season left for us to play, there’s nothing done yet, so we’ll just get back on the horse.
“We want to use the disappointment as a wee spur. It’s a great group we’ve got and they’re anxious to make amends for what happened and we’ll be fighting until the end.”
