Forres Mechanics 2 Buckie Thistle 3: Battling Can-Cans edged out by title-chasing Jags
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FORRES Mechanics ended their home Highland League campaign with a gutsy showing in a 3-2 defeat against league leaders Buckie Thistle on Saturday.
The Can-Cans trailed 2-0 and 3-1 but goals from Shaun Morrison and Ben Barron ensured the title-chasing visitors were pushed to the final whistle.
Forres manager Steven MacDonald said: "First 10 minutes I was thinking there was nothing between the teams and then we concede a soft goal.
"We were outmuscled for the second and we are thinking we are up against it, but in fairness to the boys we dug in and we were good for the rest of the half.
"It was a bit of a story of the season against the top teams – we have been the nearly team. We threaten to get something from these teams but we are not quite there.
"But there is so much potential there and there are signs that are really encouraging."
Josh Peters gave Buckie the lead on the 10-minute mark when he took Kyle MacLeod's neat pass in his stride and stroked home from eight yards.
It was 2-0 within 17 minutes when provider turned scorer, with MacLeod powering home Cohen Ramsay's cross at the back post.
Many would have expected Buckie to cruise through from there – but a defensive mix-up allowed Forres back into the game on 23 minutes when Shaun Morrison poked past Balint Demus.
Kyle MacLeod saw a back post header saved by Forres' Burghead Thistle trialist goalkeeper Aiden MacDonald before the half hour, with Connall Ewan's header cleared by Buckie minutes later.
The pace of Forres' young attack was causing Buckie some problems – with Ryan MacLeman sprinting away from Joe McCabe down the left only to see his deflected cross just evade Ethan Cairns at the back stick.
Buckie started the second period in commanding style and went close within five minutes when MacDonald's headed clearance was picked up by Max Barry whose lobbed effort from 25 yards landed a yard wide of the post.
Andy MacAskill had a free-kick punched away by MacDonald on 52 minutes, before Buckie went 3-1 ahead when Max Barry turned in via the left-hand post from eight yards.
MacAskill had a chance to kill the game on the hour mark when good interplay allowed him to cut in on his right and fire a shot from inside the box – but MacDonald foiled him again.
Substitute Ben Barron had Forres' first chance of the second half when he created space well, turned and fired from 20 yards but Demus gathered at the second attempt.
Barron did get the hosts back in the game on 76 minutes when Dale Wood's cross was scuffed by Lee Fraser and he was on hand to turn in at the second try.
Buckie took control of the final 10 minutes, with an outstanding double save from MacDonald to deny Jack Murray keeping the hosts in the contest.
A poor MacDonald clearance, though, allowed Marcus Goodall a chance on goal – but he made amends with a smart save.
Max Barry prodded wide with five minutes to play after being set up by Peters, and that was the final chance of the match as the Jags held on to win 3-2.
