Buckie Thistle 5 v Keith 0
NO XMAS CHEER FOR MAROONS!
Bah Humbug! “Tis the season to be jolly” and a’ the rest o’ it? Well, for all us Maroon diehards looking for a pre-Christmas pressie of three points on Saturday, we were left greetin’ in oor mulled wine down at the Viccy, as Buckie Thistle well and truly cooked our Turkey, by ending our eight game unbeaten run with a nap hand. Make no mistake , Jags deserved their win, and once they got their noses in front, they showed they weren’t to be “trifled “ with!
If, like me, you had witnessed each and every one of the matches in that unbeaten run, you would have journeyed down Enzie Braes thinking that Craig’s Commandos might have a fair chance of extending that run, and ending 2025 on a high note. Not the case, sadly as Lewis MacKinnon’s troops well and truly “stuffed” us, with Josh Peters being credited with a quartet of goals. Never mind Mad Friday, this was Mad Saturday as the spark in Keith’s Christmas Crackers was severely extinguished.
Yet.. the opening few minutes saw the Maroons take the game to the hosts in what was the 189th league encounter between the sides. However, as we did to Banks o’ Dee the previous week, so Jags did to us with a withering three goals in a 15 minute spell. Peters opened the scoring in the 5th minute when he raced in to slam home a low drive. Then with 11 minutes on the clock, a Lyall Keir corner flew into a congested six yard box, and although it looked like an own goal off Nathan McKeown, Buckie’s No:9 seemed to get the credit. It was tatties ower the side nine minutes later when the unfortunate Scott Barron slid a Peters cutback into his own net.
The ebullient Jags were pushing forward at every chance, and on the half hour mark Peters almost added more festive cheer for the home support when his swerving right wing drive cannoned back off the crossbar – Phew!
Ah, but oor tatties were well and truly “roasted” five minutes from the half-time cuppa when that man Peters was at it again, gleefully racing right through to hammer a drive into the roof of the net – like taking the Christmas Candy fae a bairn!
To be fair, although the damage had already been done, Keith stiffened up in the second half and kept battling valiantly on, although not actually getting any shots on target. Indeed, perhaps as expected, Peters had the last say in the 65th minute racing clear once again, to clinically slam a low drive into the bottom corner of the ingin bag.
A sore one to take for the Keith contingent, but let’s not forget this was a first league defeat in over three months, and six wins and two draws isn’t to be sneezed at. Onwards and upwards!
ALL THAT’S LEFT IS FOR ME TO WISH ABIDDY A MERRY MAROON XMAS!
KEITH – McConnachie, Addison (Craib 46), Barron, Bird (Paterson 70), Spink, Gill, Searle, McKeown, Cooper (Nicol 77), To (R Robertson 70), Lynch (Ironside 57). Subs unused – Smith, Duncan.
Referee – S Leslie
Saturday 20th December 2025, KO 3pm
Report by Charlie Simpson