Keith’s hopes of completing a league double against their neighbours were dashed by a strong performance from Buckie.
Although Buckie manager Graeme Stewart was happy with the win he did not pull his punches either, when he said: “It was a great result for us, and a good performance, but it was a shocking decision by the referee for their penalty, it made it a bit of a struggle at 1-1.
“Their goalkeeper Daniel Bell had a great game and we should have been more clinical, but we needed the win before our Scottish Cup trip to Stranraer next Saturday.”
The home side looked the more likely to score in the first half as Bell pulled off several fine saves, but he blameless when Lewis MacKinnon powered a superb 20-yard volley into the net in the 15th minute.
It was level pegging in the 62nd minute when the Maroons were awarded a spot kick and teenager Sam Pugh converted.
Eight minutes later the Jags regained the lead as sloppy defending by the visitors allowed MacKinnon to score from eight yards.
Within five minutes the home side was firmly in the driving seat when Kai Ross spotted Bell off his line and his 18-yard lob went in.
Buckie completed the scoring with two minutes left, Bell pulled off a superb one-handed save, but with his defence slow to react veteran attacker Dennis Wyness pounced to score from close range.
Maroons’ manager Allan Hale said: “This was a minor setback and I was disappointed with the first half performance.
“In the first 25 minutes of the second half we were good, we had them on the ropes at 1-1, but when we lost a frustrating second goal the reaction was negative.”