Patrick Cregg was disappointed to see Brechin City drop more points in the Breedon Highland League title race after drawing with Buckie Thistle.
But Jags boss Lewis MacKinnon felt his side could have left Glebe Park with three points rather than one following an absorbing 2-2 draw.
The result means the Hedgemen slip two points behind league leaders Brora Rangers. However, Brechin still have a game in hand and the top two clash at Dudgeon Park on March 15.
Manager Cregg said: “We’re disappointed. The positives are that we’ve come back and got something out of the game having been behind twice.
“In patches we were good, in patches we were average and we didn’t have enough dominance in the game.
“These are games that we want to be winning and ultimately games that we need to be winning and we’ve failed to do that.
“If we win our game in hand we’ll go ahead of Brora, but we want to win every game. If we don’t we want it to be a hard-luck story where we’ve peppered the other team’s goal.
“But I didn’t feel this was a hard-luck story, which is a disappointment.”
After their 2-2 draw with Banks o’ Dee last weekend Cregg made a number of changes.
Regulars Lewis Martin, Spencer Moreland, Ewan Loudon and, perhaps most surprisingly, goalkeeper Lenny Wilson were benched.
Cregg added: “Isaac Carmody (replacement goalkeeper) has been training well and Lenny has done really well for us.
“They’ve got slightly different attributes and I just decided to freshen it up.
“I made a number of changes, it wasn’t just in one area, after last Saturday I wanted to freshen the team up.”
Jags impress
Buckie are seventh in the table but MacKinnon felt this was a hugely encouraging display as they try to finish the season strongly and also build for next term.
Thistle’s 3-4-1-2 formation proved highly effective and their front two of Fin Allen – who scored both goals – and Aaron Nicolson kept the Brechin backline on their toes throughout.
MacKinnon said: “It was a good performance. Before the game I probably would have been happy with a point.
“But with how the game went we could have snuck the three points, there wasn’t much in it though.
“It is encouraging for the future, we’re going to stick with this system until the end of the season and try to implement it.
“We’ll experiment with boys in different roles and we’ll try to bleed some lads in as we go.
“But we still want to win games and there’s a little bit of disappointment because we could have snuck that one.
“The front two were exceptional. Aaron and Fin give you a breather as a team because they take the ball in well, they hold it up, they win headers and win fouls.
“They link up well together and look to be developing a good partnership which is really pleasing.
“Fin’s got a wand of a left foot and his finishes were exceptional.”
Early action
In the early stages Buckie looked dangerous when they got forward and midway through the first half they took the lead.
Lyall Keir, who was a livewire throughout on the right flank, passed into Nicolson’s feet and he laid off for Allen, who curled a sublime 20-yard shot into the top left corner with his left foot.
Brechin restored parity after half an hour. Marcus Goodall’s ball forward was blocked by Fraser MacLeod, which allowed Dayle Robertson to break through on goal and he was tripped as he tried to round goalkeeper Mark Ridgers.
After referee Abbie Hendry pointed to the spot Robertson dispatched the penalty into the bottom left corner.
On the stroke of half-time home goalkeeper Isaac Carmody repelled Joe McCabe’s attempt from 10 yards after good play from Keir on the left.
Visitors keep pushing
After the interval the Jags continued to create and Allen headed a Sam Pugh delivery from the right against the crossbar in the 52nd minute.
Elgin City loanee Allen also came close to catching out Carmody with a lob from 40 yards which drifted narrowly over.
At the other end MacLeod and sub Ewan Loudon both stung Ridgers’ palms with strikes from the edge of the box, but Buckie struck again on 64 minutes.
Keir’s ball down the right channel led to a mix-up between Brad McKay and Kevin McHattie with latter’s clearance being seized upon by Andrew MacAskill who teed up Allen curl into the left corner again from the edge of the area.
Brechin’s second equaliser arrived nine minutes later as Scott Bright broke forward on the left and fed Loudon whose cross-cum shot was forced into the net by Marc Scott.
The closest either side came to a winner was in the 81st minute when MacLeod shot narrowly wide from 14 yards.
Turriff United 0-2 Brora Rangers
Brora Rangers increased their advantage to two points at the top of the Highland League as they recorded a comfortable victory at Turriff.
Goals in either half from Connor Bunce and substitute Shane Sutherland saw Brora claim the win over a hard-working Turra side which pleased Cattachs manager Steven Mackay.
He said: “It was good to hear our rivals (Brechin City) had dropped points but we just need to focus on ourselves and take care of our own house which we did on the day.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game and it turned out to be that as they were well drilled and held a good shape but we were patient and I thought we were really good value for the win.
“No one could argue with us getting the victory and we could have added a couple more goals but to get the win and keep a clean sheet has pleased me as we looked solid defensively.
“We can’t look too far ahead as you have seen how topsy-turvy the top of the league has been.
“There will be more twists and turns but we need to be sure we are professional and with 11 games to go we have put ourselves in a good position.
“Now we will focus on our next match against Strathspey on Wednesday.”
Turriff manager Warren Cummings had no complaints with the result.
He said: “I’ve got to commend Brora who I thought were fantastic, both technically and individually, while collectively their play was excellent.
“From our perspective we will never be happy losing a football match but there are ways to lose and that was one of them.
“All of our players gave me the maximum but sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and say we were beaten by a really good football team who have excellent players who could play at a higher level.
“We would have liked a bit more in the final third but we got penned back and were limited to the amount of times we got up the pitch.
“But we gave everything against a top team.”
Bunce put Brora ahead after 35 minutes when he capitalised on a rebound from an excellent save by Lee Herbert to score from close range.
The decisive second counter came in the 52nd minute when Ali Sutherland played a ball into the box for his namesake Shane to flick the ball over the advancing Herbert.
Banks o’ Dee 2-3 Forres Mechanics
Forres Mechanics manager Steven MacDonald was delighted with his side’s victory against Banks o’ Dee and believes it underlines the progress they are making.
The Can-Cans triumphed 3-2 at Spain Park to inflict a first defeat on Dee since the end of November.
Forres have also beaten the likes of Brechin City, Formartine United and Buckie Thistle this term and MacDonald said: “I think we’ve made good progress this season.
“With some of the games we’ve won it shows what the boys can do and gives us a bit of belief.
“It’s always very difficult going to places like Spain Park and I’m delighted for the boys.
“It’s encouraging, but we need to keep going because it’s such a tough league and if you’re not at it you get brought back down to earth very quickly.”
The Can-Cans had 18-year-old Jack Robertson in goal after he joined on an emergency loan from Cove Rangers, while ex-Inverness Caledonian Thistle attacker Calum MacKay started as a trialist.
Forres broke the deadlock five minutes into the second half when Jordan Alonge burst past a couple of challenges and finished tidily from the edge of the box.
Dee replied midway through the second period via Andy Hunter’s finish at the back post and on 72 minutes Lachie MacLeod got in behind and lifted a shot over Robertson to give the hosts the lead.
Jamieson makes his mark
But Forres battled back and when sub Matt Jamieson, who has only recently returned from three months out with a groin injury, was impeded inside the box by Jevan Anderson and Alonge was able to level things up from the penalty spot.
Jamieson grabbed the winner on 83 minutes with a sensational strike from 30 yards.
MacDonald added: “It was great to see Matt back involved and making a real impact when he came on.
“Jack Robertson handled himself really well coming into a new team and can be really pleased with his performance.”
Dee are now six points off the summit of the Breedon Highland League and have played a game more than leaders Brora Rangers and two more than second-placed Brechin.
Co-manager Winton said: “We were poor all over the park, but Forres deserve credit for how they played.
“At 2-1 even though we weren’t playing well you either need to kick on and finish the game or see it out and we did neither.
“Even before this defeat we were always chasing in the title race. We knew we needed to win most, if not all, our remaining games so this result is damaging in that regard.”
Formartine United 3-2 Strathspey Thistle
Stuart Anderson praised Formartine United’s spirit after they struck late on to defeat Strathspey Thistle 3-2 at North Lodge Park.
Rhys Thomas netted the Pitmedden side’s winner in stoppage time after they had twice been pegged back by the Grantown Jags, who played the last half an hour with 10 men following Ali Nixon’s dismissal.
Manager Anderson said: “The boys showed great spirit to keep going and get the winner.
“It maybe didn’t look like it was going to come, but we kept going and it did.
“It’s been a positive week for us with two wins in the league and getting to a cup final. The players’ efforts have been rewarded and hopefully we can build on the last week.”
Match action
United opened the scoring just before half-time when Julian Wade’s cut-back from the left was finished by Graeme Rodger from 12 yards.
But Strathspey equalised in the 53rd minute when Daniel Whitehorn headed home a Josh Race free-kick from the left.
Within two minutes Formartine were back in front, Wade was again the supplier on the left and Rodger found the net from close range.
Just after the hour mark Thistle were reduced to 10 men when Nixon received a second yellow card and then a red from referee Owen Lawrence for pulling back Robert Ward.
In the last minute of normal time the visitors restored parity once more with sub Paul Brindle scoring from the penalty spot after Lawrence, to the bewilderment of the home players, spotted an infringement inside the box at a Strathspey free-kick.
However, there was a final twist in stoppage time as Thomas nodded home the rebound after Euan Storrier saved Stuart Smith’s header from a Ward corner.
Strathspey manager Ryan Esson said: “Getting back to 2-2 so late we need to see it out.
“Over the piece we played well. The way we fought and hung in with 10 men are real positives and we need that fight, hunger and work-rate in every game.
“Although we didn’t get a positive result we set a standard within the performance we need that every week for the rest of the season. If we play like that we’ll start getting positive results.”
Fraserburgh 1-1 Wick Academy
Fraserburgh and Wick Academy shared the spoils in an entertaining 1-1 draw.
Kyle Henderson’s early goal for the visitors was cancelled out just after half time by Kieran Simpson.
Both sides then had chances to win the game but couldn’t find that killer touch.
Fraserburgh boss Mark Cowie said: “There’s a fine line between rotating the team and freshening things up and I’ve maybe changed it too much and that’s not fair on some of the players who haven’t played much this season.
“Wick were good. They played two strikers and not too many teams do that here. They got in behind our defence quite a bit in the first half.”
“It wasn’t our best performance of the season, not as good as Wednesday night, but we did bombard Wick a bit in the second half, albeit they were dangerous on the break.
“We had chances in and around their box but didn’t take care with that final pass or make better decisions in the final third. Fair play to Wick, they defended well and deserved their point.”
The match burst into life in the second minute when Kyle Henderson latched onto a through ball behind the Broch defence and rounded Joe Barbour before slotting the ball into an empty net to give the Scorries the lead.
Moments later Matthew Aitkenhead found himself in a similar position, but Barbour produced a great save to deny the Wick attacker.
The Broch grew into the game and Kieran Simpson saw a header cleared off the line midway through the half, the Stuart Laird fired a rasping drive just over.
At the other end Henderson forced Barbour into a save after another quick break by the visitors.
The home side levelled three minutes after the break with Simpson acrobatically hooking the ball home after a corner fell to him inside the penalty area.
Wick weren’t out of it and Aitkenhead crossed for Marc MacGregor who fired just over.
The Broch piled on the pressure, but the Academy defence stood firm to deny efforts from Sopel twice, Scott Barbour and Simpson again and they could have won it at the death when Mark Macadie’s cross hit the junction of the post and crossbar.
Wick head coach Gordon McDonald said: “This is one of the most difficult places to come in the Highland League, but we played a bit differently, went longer and got in behind Fraserburgh’s defence on a few occasions.
“We played two up front against Brora and did the same here and it maybe surprised them a bit.
“From the goalkeeper right through the team, the boys put in a tremendous shift and fully deserved the point.”
Meanwhile, Clachnacuddin v Huntly at Grant Street Park and Keith v Rothes at Kynoch Park were postponed due to frost.
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