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A quickfire second half double for Buckie Thistle condemned Locos to defeat in the opening game of the Breedon Highland League season at Victoria Park. Despite a positive reaction from the Railwaymen, they were unable to get back into the game at a ground where results have been hard to come by in recent years. The disappointment for Locos was compounded when Robert ward was shown a straight red card in added time.
Dean Donaldson handed competitive debuts to Greig McNaughton and Paul Campbell, while Oliver Green played his first game since moving to Harlaw Park on a opermanent basis. It was Locos who had the first opportunity inside the opening five minutes, Milosz Ochmanksi with a towereing heading from a Cole Anderson corner that was tipped over the bar by Sean McIntosh at full stretch. Blessing Oluyemi was then called into action at the other end, keeping out efforts from Fin Allen and Ryan Fyffe. The game then settled into a pattern with the Jags enjoying the majority of the possession but Locos carrying a threat in transition. The closest either side came to breaking the deadlock though, was when Josh Buchan got his head to a Buckie free kick wide on the right and the ball looped over Oluyemi and back off the crossbar.
Locos started the second half full of purpose, penning the hosts in their own half, and McIntosh had to be alert to keep out an Ethan Cairns effort. Thistle then took the lead as Locos failed to deal with a corner from the left. Allen headed against the bar but the ball fell nicely to Darryl McHardy who finished from close range. The lead was doubled on the hour mark. Allen was pulling the strings for the 2024 Breedon Highland League Champions and was again involved as he found Josh Peters in the penalty area who showed a good bit of skill before finding the net.
Locos were up against it now but as Donaldson made changes. they went in search of a goal that would give them a lifeline. Blair Smith in particular was causing the home defence all sorts of problems down the left wing but was unable to create any clear chances either for himself or his teammates. When the Railwaymen did manage to get shots at goal, the home defence were inevitably on hand to block. Cairns again went close, firing narrowly over the bar from the corner of the box, but Buckie were able to see the game out. Deep into injury time, Ward was dismissed for apparently questoning the referees decision not to award him a free kick.
This was far from an ideal start to the campaign, and Locos didn’t do enough to win the game, but there were also promising signs and had their efforts after falling behind been rewarded with a goal, it would have set up an interesting finale. Donaldson and his players will now focus on the vist of Forres Mechanics to Harlaw Park next week.
