Buckie Thistle ensured that the destiny of this season’s Highland League title race is in their own hands after they beat Deveronvale in their game in hand on rivals challengers Cove Rangers and Brora Rangers.
All three clubs now sit on 75 points with three games remaining, but crucially Buckie have the best goal difference which could prove to be the difference.
Buckie had the game won by the interval, scoring within five minutes to calm the nerves around a surprisingly quiet Victoria Park before adding a second in the 27th minute.
The Banffers were far better in the second half and carved out chances for themselves, while they also had a decent shout for a penalty turned down just minutes after referee Alan Proctor had pointed to the spot for Thistle to net their third goal of the afternoon.
Buckie manager Graeme Stewart was delighted to get the points knowing that it is up to his team to go and grab their first title since 2011.
He said: “We totally dominated during the first half, but in the second half Vale played well after changing their shape. Yes they have a lot of young players, but all credit to them as they made it tricky for us. Until we got the third goal they were always in the game.
“I was impressed by them as having watched them on Wednesday this was a massively-improved performance from them, especially in the second half.
“We could have had three or four goals in the first period but it has been the story for us in the past few weeks now and we never got that cushion. Had they scored to take it back to 2-1 then it would have been squeaky, so we are delighted with the win.
“I would take 1-0 wins during the course of the next three games which would be enough, but if we are going to win it we want to do it in style and if we can get a few goals it would cause me a lot less pressure on the sideline.
“The next game is the biggest one and Wednesday is huge. Win that we go down to two but with Fraserburgh having the day off they are going to be fresher as my players are tired after having ran for 90 minutes on a very hard surface. We go their confident and if we play to our best form we can beat them. They will think likewise.”
Vale manager Steve Dolan was pleased with his side’s second-half showing but lamented their slow start to a game again as they lost another early goal.
He said “We did change our formation at the start to go with three centre halves as we tried to defend the box as they have scored a lot of goals.
“It didn’t work for us so we changed things at the start of the second half and there was not a lot between the teams until the penalty given against us.
“I am not going to speak about referees, but it was such a soft penalty given while we didn’t get one when Kyle Gauld was running through. It was two big decisions the officials have got wrong. It is something we can’t change so we just have to get on with it.
“We just need to have a bit of belief that we are as good as other teams. We have a very young team but once we went toe to toe with Buckie and pushed players forward we more than matched them in the second half.
“Gifting them a goal within five minutes took the pressure right off Buckie as we needed to keep them level as long as possible. The first half was disappointing as we needed to work harder.”
Buckie got the early goal they craved in the fifth minute when Sam Urquhart was left in splendid isolation four yards from goal to turn home a cross from Kevin Fraser. They doubled their lead in the 27th minute following poor defending from Vale which allowed Fraser to score from eight yards. John McLeod was denied a goal by superb work from Grant Pennet while the goalkeeper also did well to deal with a John Maitland free kick from 22 yards.
Buckie added a late third five minutes from time when Steven Davidson’s headed clearance hit Liam Forbes on the shoulder, but a spot kick was awarded which Urquhart smacked into the bottom corner.