An injury time penalty from Andrew MacAskill earned Buckie Thistle all three points against a determined Clach side at Grant Street.
Two goals in two second half minutes from Gary Warren and Caley Thistle loanee Harry Hennem turned the game on its head after Scott Adams’ superb opener.
Darryl McHardy levelled matters on his Buckie league debut, before the late penalty drama won it for the visitors.
Jags manager Graeme Stewart was not impressed with his side’s display.
He said: “I thought we were poor today. Give Clach the credit they deserve, I thought they were excellent. A draw would probably have been a fairer result.
“It was strangely similar to Wick last year, when we beat them 2-1 with a late goal from Kevin Fraser.
“Our distribution wasn’t good, we were too open in midfield and the two goals we lost were terrible.
“I don’t think anyone came out of it with any credit, apart from maybe Andrew MacAskill and Sam Morrison when he came on.
“We needed his composure and ability on the ball.”
Such a great photo of Gaz celebrating his goal with his good friend 😂
📷Donald Cameron pic.twitter.com/BHy2RpEBn2— Inverness Clachnacuddin FC (@clachfc) July 29, 2023
After a scrappy opening half hour, Buckie took the lead on 36 minutes.
Jack MacIver’s piledriver from 25 yards was brilliantly tipped onto the post by Daniel Rae, only for Scott Adams to curl a superb strike into the top corner from the rebound.
MacAskill missed a good chance to make it two just after the break, side-footing his effort wide of the far post.
The home side levelled on the hour when Gary Warren headed home from close range from a Hennem corner.
Two minutes later Hennem stunned Buckie with a lobbed finish over the stranded Knight from the edge of the penalty area.
Darryl McHardy then made it 2-2 on 67 minutes, volleying home at the far post from a superb MacAskill delivery.
The visitors did grab all three points in injury time, Macleod’s shot was handled on the line by Callum Black, who was sent off, and MacAskill stepped up to send Rae the wrong way from the spot.
Clach boss Jordan Macdonald was proud of his charges.
He said: “A point was the least we deserved today.
“We were brave, we got our press right, our movement right and went toe-to-toe with a team that in my opinion will be right up there come the end of the season.
“We need to keep that standard now. There’s no point in performing like that today, then dropping our standards against the teams who will be in and around us this season.”
Deveronvale 1-0 Keith
Deveronvale got the new Highland League season up and running with victory over Keith with Horace Ormsby finishing superbly to earn the three points for the home side.
A long ball played forward to the edge of the box fell perfectly for the Vale striker and he rifled a fantastic finish past Craig Reid from just outside the box.
Vale manager Craig Stewart was delighted to see Ormsby score and play for almost the whole 90 minutes as he had been a major doubt before the game.
He said: “The player has been struggling with an injury and I pushed him to play as he is such an important player for us.
“We will have to manage his injury but he was outstanding, not only with his goal and his forward play but also falling back to cover defensively which he doesn’t get recognised enough for.
“Our centre midfield pairing of Rogan Reid and Scott Thomson, who played as a trialist, did really well to break up the play when we were defending. The former Lossiemouth player will be signing a contract in the next few days to add another new face to our squad.
“We were really good especially in the first half and we should have scored more.
“We had to dig in during the latter stages of the game as Keith looked to take something from the game.”
Keith manager Craig Ewen said: “Vale were the better team in the first half and got the goal while in the second half we tried to get on the front foot and were better but our final pass was lacking.
“It is really frustrating and disappointing and we need to anticipate balls into the box better.
“We were just that yard off on the day so no complaints and we need to get ready to go again next week at home to Clach.”
Meanwhile Craig Stewart confirmed that Vale striker Dane Ballard looks likely to miss most of the season after picking up his second anterior cruiciate ligament injury in five years.
He said: “We are gutted for the player and also the team as Dane guarantees 20 goals a season.
“He picked up the injury in a recent friendly at Colony Park Juniors.
“Dane had been hoping to sign a new contract so we will have to have discussions with him and see what can happen as we need to support him as he is really down so we will take it from there.
“We are a better team with Dane in it and not many strikers can give you the same goal return most seasons with where we are at as a club at the moment so that shows you how important he is to us.”