Jordan MacRae was thrilled to put a shine on a frustrating season for Brora Rangers by winning the GPH Builders Merchants Highland League Cup.
The Cattachs defeated Buckie Thistle 2-1 in a thrilling final at Station Park, Nairn with MacRae netting the opening goal.
Brora’s attempt to retain the Breedon Highland League has faltered in the last couple of months, but the Dudgeon Park side have won the League Cup for only the second time in their history.
Striker MacRae said: “It’s been a bit of a disappointing season for us, we’ve not hit the heights we expected. So finishing with this is a high for us and I’m delighted.
“I was glad to score as well because usually I’m cursed when I come back to Station Park.
“We know ourselves when we play at our best we can compete with and beat most of the teams in the league.
“When we’ve played the big teams it’s maybe been a case of not working hard enough which has been our downfall.
“But against Buckie I couldn’t fault anyone with the shift everyone put in.”
First trophy for boss
For Craig Campbell this success was his first trophy as a manager after taking over from Steven Mackay last September.
He added: “I’m absolutely delighted, a cup final is always about winning and I felt overall we deserved it.
“We’ve not shown what we can do in the bigger games this season and that’s why we’re fourth in the league.
“We lost the North of Scotland Cup final so to lose two cup finals and finish fourth would’ve been a bit of a disaster.
“We’ve had a tough run in this cup and we’re worthy winners.
“It’s a totally different feeling for me, I felt a bit of pressure.
“The club has got expectations and I knew the importance of winning a first trophy as manager.
“Hopefully that gives us something to build on.”
Campbell had some tough decisions to make, which included recalling goalkeeper Joe Malin after two months out with a knee problem and benching Lenny Wilson.
He said: “It was a really tough decision and it was tough for Lenny to miss out.
“But Joe’s our club captain and as a goalie he’s far too good for this level and I think his save in the second half (from Jack Murray) showed it was the right decision.”
Buckie started sluggishly with Brora on top and they took the lead on 16 minutes.
Dale Gillespie’s free-kick from the right wasn’t dealt with and when Josh Meekings headed the ball down at the back post MacRae gathered and side-stepped Kyle MacLeod before slotting home.
In the 35th minute it was 2-0 when another Gillespie free-kick from the right was headed into the right corner by Colin Williamson.
Shortly before half-time Malin made an important stop to deny Kevin Fraser after a rapid Buckie break.
In the second period the Jags caused the Cattachs more problems. Just after the hour mark Malin parried a Fraser effort and sub Marcus Goodall stabbed the rebound wide.
With nine minutes left Malin pulled off an incredible save to claw away Jack Murray’s header from Sam Urquhart’s right-wing cross.
On 85 minutes Buckie did eventually score with Malin saving from Goodall, but Urquhart lashed home the rebound. Despite a frantic finale Brora held out.
Frustration for Jags
Buckie haven’t won silverware since 2017 and manager Graeme Stewart – who was red carded after the final whistle – admitted their slow start cost them.
But he also took issue with the way referee Joel Kennedy handled the game.
Stewart said: “It was a very disappointing first half, we didn’t turn up for the first 30 minutes and Brora were very good.
“They outplayed us, they outbattled us and used their experience.
“They deserved to go in ahead, but in the second half I thought we were outstanding.
“The players showed their character and we could have got a draw.
“The referee was the worst I’ve seen in my life. It’s not his fault we lost the game, but he’s got to control the game better than that.
“There wasn’t a bad tackle in the game and he booked something like 12 players, he wasn’t good enough.
“He shouldn’t have refereed the game, he sent off (Brora goalkeeper) Lenny Wilson in the game four weeks ago and it was overturned on appeal.
“I don’t know who made the decision for him to referee the game, but as soon as we knew it was him we were in trouble.
“He showed why because he was scared to give a foul against them and whoever made that decision has to learn from it.”