Buckie Thistle trio John McLeod, Sam Urquhart and Chris Angus have scored 88 goals between them this season and with three games to go could still reach the memorable landmark of 100, starting with tonight’s tricky trip to face Fraserburgh at Bellslea.
Buckie have already scored 116 league goals this season, a huge leap from the 80 of the last campaign when Formartine United led the way with 137 league goal.
Former Clachnacuddin, Fort William and Brora centre forward McLeod, leads the way with 41 goals in all competitions, followed by former Elgin, Clach and Nairn attacker Urquhart with 27 while two-time title-winner Angus, has scored 20 from midfield.
McLeod said: “If the three of us together were to reach 100 league goals before the end of the season it would be a remarkable achievement.
“But if we were to go on and win the Highland League title that would top the season in style, we have to go to Fraserburgh, then Formartine, but we have already beaten them both this season and these big end-of-season games are the ones we want to play in.”
The 28-year-old centre forward added: “Both the Broch and United will be going all out to beat us, unlike Huntly the other week, who didn’t show much intention to go and win the game. They wanted to frustrate us and soak up all the pressure. Fraserburgh and Formartine will come at us. If I was lucky enough to pick up a league winner’s medal it would be a dream come true. I went from Fort William to Brora last season and we missed out on the title to Cove by four points so hopefully we can go one better this time around.”
Buckie manager Graeme Stewart knows his side will need to be at its best to pick up the three points it needs when he said: “I hadn’t realised that John, Sam and Chris had scored as many goals as that between them but I would be just as pleased if our left or right back popped up with the only goal of the game at Bellslea.
“If we want to win the league this is a game we really do need to win.
“We drew 1-1 against the Broch at Victoria Park earlier in the season with a late goal. This is our biggest challenge of the season but we’ve done a lot of work on it and we’ve had them watched a couple of times.
“It’s a massive game and is certainly not going to be easy. In the last 10 games Fraserburgh are the league’s form team.”
Fraserburgh manager Mark Cowie is relishing the prospect of causing yet another title upset, and said: “We have already dented Brora’s title push by beating them here, and we also held Cove Rangers to a 1-1 draw just before Christmas. There’s no reason we can’t do it against Buckie as they need to win if they want to win the league – the pressure is all on them. If we win we will close out all the other teams who are trying to finish fifth, so we also have something to play for. We certainly don’t want anyone to close in on the championship by beating us here at Bellslea.”
Fraserburgh’s only absentee is midfielder Jamie Beagrie who has returned offshore.