Buckie Thistle manager Graeme Stewart is keeping his feet firmly on the ground despite the Jags continuing their 100% start to the league season with an emphatic derby win over Deveronvale.
Thistle ran out convincing winners, with double from Max Barry and further strikes from Sam Morrison and Kevin Fraser putting the Jags firmly in command at the break before Kyle MacLeod added a further goal in the second half.
The result keeps Buckie level at the top of the league alongside Fraserburgh with four wins from four.
Despite the strong start, Stewart insists his side will face stiffer tests in the upcoming weeks.
Stewart said: “We are spreading the goals around which is good, but it’s the clean sheets I’m pleased with as that gives confidence to the whole team.
“I have been at Buckie for around 15 years in total and it’s always been a hard game. They worked hard and we scored a lot of our chances.
“We know there are going to be harder teams to come. No disrespect to the teams we have played, they are good teams, but we are coming up to run of four games where we play Rothes, Fraserburgh, Formartine United and Caley Thistle.
“We know we need to react to it. We need to keep improving, we have a number of young players such as Jack Murray, Sam Morrison, Max Barry and Mark McLauchlan, so hopefully they keep getting better and better.”
Buckie started brightly, and took the lead after just 14 minutes courtesy of a lovely move which saw Kyle MacLeod hold the ball up before crossing low to the far post for Barry to hammer home from close-range.
The Jags threatened to add to their tally, with Vale goalkeeper Sean McIntosh in fine form to thwart MacLeod’s header, Sam Urquhart’s strike and another Barry effort.
Midfielder Barry doubled his tally on 25 minutes, however, receiving the ball from Morrison before planting a low drive past McIntosh from 16 yards.
Vale looked for a way back into the game, with full-back Ross Aitken’s low ball across goal just behind the run of Dane Ballard.
MacLeod was denied a third goal on 31 minutes, when he spun past his marker Innes McKay before shooting low, only to be thwarted by another save by McIntosh.
Buckie were not to be denied four minutes later though, with Andrew MacAskill’s free-kick from the left met by the head of Morrison, who beat McIntosh to the ball to nod home.
There was time for a fourth just a minute before the interval, with Fraser working his way into a shooting position before rifling a strike low underneath the dive of McIntosh.
Buckie carried on from where they left off after the break, netting within a minute of the restart when Urquhart crossed for MacLeod to net a goal his performance merited, with the striker neatly tucking the ball home at the near post.
Stewart was pleased for MacLeod to find the net, adding: “Kyle has not been in the team, he has been waiting patiently, but he has come in for the last two games and done very well. We need that squad.”
Deveronvale boss Craig Stewart said: “It was a bad day at the office for sure. It happens now and again in football, but it’s really disappointing it happened in a derby game.
“We didn’t give ourselves a chance, the first half performance was shocking. We dropped way below the standards we expect.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Buckie, I think they will be right up there challenging at the end of the season.
“There’s always something to learn, and what I have learned from this is that we are capable of dropping to that level.”
BUCKIE THISTLE (4-2-3-1) – Main 6; Munro 7, Morrison 6 (Cowie 46), J Murray 6, McLauchlan 6 (Booth 63); Pugh 6 (C Murray 70), Fraser 7; MacAskill 7, Barry 8, Urquhart 7; MacLeod 8. Subs not used – Dunbar, MacKinnon, Herbert.
DEVERONVALE (4-5-1) – McIntosh 7; Aitken 7, Connolly 6, McKay 6, Willox 6; Robertson 5 (Adams 46), Davidson 6, Watson 5 (Stewart 66), Allan 5, Scott 5 (Jamieson 54); Ballard 5. Subs not used –
Referee – Grant Irvine 6
Man of the match: Max Barry