Buckie Thistle manager Graeme Stewart admitted the best team won as Kelty Hearts defeated the Jags 4-1 in the Scottish Cup second round.
The League Two leaders proved to be too strong for the Breedon Highland League side at New Central Park.
Stewart said: “The best team won, Kelty were better than us.
“I’m happy with 60 or 70% of the performance, the first 25 minutes it was an even game.
“They score from a free header at a corner which is shocking and they scored a few minutes later with us being disappointed at being behind and not reacting.
“We were disappointed at half-time.
“We started the second half well and Marcus Goodall probably shoudld’ve scored to make it 2-1 but we don’t take it and then they score a poor goal from our point of view.
“We made it 3-1 and I was thinking ‘if we can get another goal, we’re right in this.’
“But we changed formation and pushed players forward and they picked us off.
“I can’t be too hard on the players, Kelty are in League Two and are probably going to win the league.
“They deserve credit because some of their players are very good, but I felt we competed for 70% of the game.”
😔💔JAMIE BARJONAS | A horrible outcome from todays win with @jbarjonas_ having to have an operation on his wrist injury
The fans favourite has been nothing short of magnificent since joining, a huge blow for the boy and the club
We all wish, our man Barjo a speedy recovery ❤️ pic.twitter.com/N1yDoe2gao
— Kelty Hearts Football Club (@KeltyHeartsFC) October 23, 2021
Jamie Baronjas hit the post early on for Kelty but Thomas O’Ware opened the scoring on 24 minutes, heading home from Joe Cardle’s delivery.
Soon after Cardle doubled the lead and after Buckie threatened to pull one back in the second half Cardle made it 3-0.
Sam Urquhart did pull one back for the Jags in the finall 10 minutes, but Ross Philip’s counter late on completed the scoring.
Hard work against Haddington
Brechin City reached the Scottish Cup third round following a 2-1 victory over Haddington Athletic at Glebe Park but they were made to fight all the way by East of Scotland League side team who performed valiantly over the course of the 90 minutes.
Manager Andy Kirk was delighted with his side’s victory but admitted that he had been disappointed with the way they had performed in the opening 45 minutes.
“I thought that we were poor in the first-half,” he said.
“We over-hit passes, we ran the ball out of play and when we did get crosses into the box the final ball was poor.
“In the second-half we looked really comfortable without playing particularly good football.
“We told the players at half-time to make sure that when they got into the final third to take great care with the final pass and to make sure we picked out a player in the box.
“The one bit of quality when we did exactly that and probably the only time we delivered a cross straight across the face of the goal brought us the winner. It was a horrible ball for the defender to deal with and it goes in so we’re pleased to be into the next round of the Cup which is the main thing.”
Haddington were the better team in the opening 45 minutes and they deservedly grabbed the opening goal after 21 minutes when Guy McGarry took advantage of a slack pass to push forward into the box before curling a superb drive into the top corner of the net.
City set the pace at the beginning of the second-half and they levelled nine minutes in when Sam Dunham rose above the visitors defence to power home a header following a Michael Paton corner.
The hosts kept up the pressure and booked their place in the third round with the winning goal coming right at the death when Kieran Inglis delivered a great ball into the box which Corey Robertson turned into his own net under pressure from Julian Wade.