Buckie Thistle manager Graeme Stewart was pleased not to be left with egg on his face after they moved five points clear at the top of the Breedon Highland League.
The Jags defeated Banks o’ Dee 3-1 at Spain Park to extend their lead over Brechin City, whose game against Brora Rangers was postponed, although the Hedgemen do have two games in hand.
Last weekend 10-man Buckie were knocked out of the GPH Builders Merchants Highland League Cup on penalties by Banks o’ Dee. After the game Stewart was critical of the Aberdeen outfit and said he felt there was a gulf between the sides.
The Thistle boss admits he overstepped the mark and was relieved his comments didn’t inspire Dee to dent their title challenge.
He said: “If they’d won it wouldn’t have been because of my comments. Surely a player doesn’t have to hear what I say to get them up for a game.
“But if we’d lost I’d have got it shoved down my throat so I worried about that a bit.
“I shouldn’t have said one or two of the things I said in the heat of the moment after the game when I was frustrated.
“I was over the top with a couple of things and I’m sure Josh (Winton) and Paul (Lawson) weren’t too happy, so I apologise to them and we move on.
“First half we were good and deserved our lead after making a mistake for their goal, but I was impressed with how they played second half and I’m delighted with the win.”
Jags relishing run-in
Although they are top of the table, Stewart is braced for a tough run-in. In their last seven games Buckie face Brora, Rothes, Nairn County, Forres Mechanics, Strathspey Thistle, Formartine United and Brechin.
He added: “If we win all our games we win the league, which is what we want to do, but it’s going to be nigh on impossible to win all our games.
“We’ve got really hard games, but we’re up for it.”
In front of a bumper crowd, the game raged from end to end in the early stages.
Buckie threatened twice in first two minutes with Joe McCabe knocking an Andrew MacAskill cross wide before Max Barry sliced a shot off target.
But, in the third minute, Dee made the breakthrough. McCabe and Hamish Munro didn’t deal with a loose ball and Michael Philipson was able to race through on goal.
Balint Demus saved Philipson’s shot, but Lachie MacLeod was on hand to finish the rebound.
In response for the visitors, Barry lobbed wide with goalkeeper Andy Shearer beaten.
But, on 25 minutes, Buckie did equalise.
Barry did well to win a free-kick on the edge of the area and with Dee expecting Jack Murray to shoot, he rolled the ball square for MacAskill who found the right corner with a fine finish.
Two minutes shy of half-time, Buckie took the lead. MacAskill’s shot hit team-mate Josh Peters, with the ball breaking for Cohen Ramsay on the left side of the area. He calmly picked out Peters, who curled into the right corner from 15 yards.
When the teams returned for the second period, the next goal was always likely to be important, and the Jags got it on 48 minutes.
Munro’s ball in behind the Dee defence created a race between Ramsay and Shearer, Ramsay got there first and was tripped by the custodian.
Referee Chris Fordyce pointed to the penalty spot and MacAskill – who missed last weekend in the Highland League Cup shoot-out – found the bottom left corner.
Dee introduced Neil Gauld, Magnus Watson and Max Alexander from the bench in a bid to get back into the contest.
But, despite having more possession, they struggled to create many chances, while Peters and Barry both came close to increasing Buckie’s lead.
Disappointment for Dee
It’s only Dee’s second defeat in nine games since co-managers Josh Winton and Paul Lawson took charge.
Lawson said: “We’re disappointed and probably mainly with the goals we conceded and our performance in the first half.
“We didn’t deserve to be in front, but we got ourselves in front and the goals we lost were poor on our part, so it’s disappointing overall.
“From our side, losing the third so early in the second half kind of killed the contest.
“We huffed and puffed towards the end and had a lot of the ball, but we didn’t carve them open and credit to them because they defended well.
“We’ve proven in the past we can compete with these teams and we showed it last week.
“It was an off-day for some. We had boys playing out of position and boys carrying knocks which doesn’t help.
“They’re not excuses – we are where we are with players out and when we get everyone back, we’ll look a lot stronger.”
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