Two goals from Michael Anderson helped Stenhousemuir to a comprehensive victory over Buckie Thistle at Ochilview Park in their opening game of Group B in the Premier Sports Cup.
Buckie boss Lewis MacKinnon was disappointed with the manner of goals lost by his charges.
He said: “We had some good spells of possession in the first half, but three of the goals are down to individual errors and we need to cut that out – it’s something that’s been bothering me throughout pre-season.
“It’s important to keep everything in perspective, though.
“It was a tough game and we only had one first team outfield player on the bench today, plus myself and young Blair Campbell from the under-18 squad.
“The boys did put in a great shift on an artificial pitch on a warm day, and we had some good individual performances, plus some not so good, so plenty to work on.
“I’ve got to be positive. We’ve come here and faced a good League One team with very experienced coaches who have played at the top level of the game.”
The home side threatened early on when former Rangers youngster Matty Yates’ curling 20-yard free kick came off the top of the crossbar.
Stenny took the lead three minutes later, Matty Aitken finishing high into the net from close range from a Ross Taylor cross from the left.
Buckie’s Andrew MacAskill had a fierce shot from long range blocked by the face of Michael Anderson on 23 minutes as the Highland League champions looked to respond.
Home goalkeeper Darren Jamieson then handled the ball outside his area, but the resultant free-kick was well dealt with by the Stenny defence.
Taylor made it two on 41 minutes, latching on to a clever flick from Yates to slot the ball beyond Stuart Knight into the right-hand corner from 14 yards.
Buckie keeper Knight went off with a knee injury at the break, and he was replaced in goal by Euan Storrier.
The visitors’ Lyall Keir shot straight at Jamieson five minutes in the second half, before Keir did well to create an opening for himself, but fired wide of the left post from 25 yards.
Anderson made it three for Stenny on 59 minutes, rifling the ball into the top left-hand corner after Storrier saved superbly from a Yates volley at the far post.
The home side completed the scoring when a mistake let in Anderson to roll the ball beyond Storrier for his second and Stenny’s fourth of the afternoon.
New boss: Brechin City draw with St Johnstone would have been fair result
New Brechin City manager Patrick Cregg was delighted with his side’s performance despite them going down to a narrow 2-1 Premier Sports Cup defeat to St Johnstone at Glebe Park.
A first-half penalty from Graham Carey after Benjamin Kimpioka had been upended in the box by Lewis Martin, and a wonderful strike from Kyle Cameron quarter of an hour into the second-half when he blasted the ball into the roof of the net from 25 yards saw Premiership Saints leap into a 2-0 lead.
But Highland League City got the consolation goal their play deserved right at the death when substitute Spencer Moreland collected a cross-field pass from Marc Scott and drilled a scorching drive into the bottom corner of the net.
Cregg was full of praise for his players at the end of an entertaining 90 minutes in the sides’ Group F opener.
“I thought that the lads’ effort and application was brilliant and they deserve all the praise that comes their way for their performance, but having said that we don’t want to be losing games of football,” Cregg said.
“You have to respect the opposition. They’re full-time footballers, but we have players in our team who have played full-time as well.
“I thought that our players to a man were excellent.
“St Johnstone came here expecting to beat us, but overall I thought that there was very little between the teams and a 0-0 draw might have been a fairer reflection.
“They got a penalty on the stroke of half-time, which was unfortunate from our point of view, and an unbelievable 25-yard strike in the second-half saw us go further behind.
“But at that stage I didn’t think we deserved to be behind, so I was so delighted with our late consolation as it was the least our players deserved.”
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