Buckie Thistle manager Gary Hake has warned his players have no time to feel sorry for themselves following their Aberdeenshire Cup final defeat by Fraserburgh at the weekend.
After the 3-2 defeat at Kynoch Park, the Jags return to Highland League duty this evening with a trip to Formartine United.
Peter-Alexander Bruce netted the winning goal for Kris Hunter’s men four minutes from time in a thrilling final which ended in disappointment for Buckie.
But manager Hake is pleased his players have a chance to return to winning ways so soon after the defeat.
He said: “There is no point feeling sorry for ourselves. We just need to get on with it and move on.
“We have another big game coming up and we have a long season ahead of us.
“We can’t dwell on that one. We need to focus on the match against Formartine, which is an ideal fixture for us.
“We have shown we can compete with the best sides in the league and hopefully the players will learn from the defeat and use it as motivation for the rest of the season.”
Buckie defeated Formartine United 3-0 at Pitmedden last month to book their place in the Aberdeenshire Cup final.
Hake is confident his team can record another victory against Steve Paterson’s side. However, the North Lodge Park men will go into the match in buoyant mood following a 3-2 win at Cove Rangers on Saturday.
Paterson’s men are only a point adrift of leaders Wick Academy and Hake accepts his side will have to be at its best if it is to win.
He added: “They had a good result at the weekend but I think we feel confident as well. We have already beaten them this season so we will be going into the match feeling positive.
“Hopefully it will be as good a game as last time we played them at their place and we can get a similar result.
“We have a few players who are carrying knocks so we could be down in numbers.”
We’ve already beaten them so we will be going into this match feeling positive