PICTURES: Inverurie Locos win Aberdeenshire Cup after beating Buckie Thistle on penalties after goalless 90 minutes at Kynoch Park
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Inverurie Locos beat Buckie Thistle on penalties after a goalless draw in the Aberdeenshire Cup final.
Buckie, playing their seventh match in two weeks, couldn’t repeat the joy of their Highland League title success on Saturday despite dominating the 90 minutes.
A marathon shoot-out saw 18 kicks taken before Locos won 7-6 with Mark Souter netting the decisive effort.
Locos had the first attempt on goal but Calum Dingwall’s 30 yard free kick was easily dealt with by Stuart Knight.
Jags’ first chance saw Locos make a meal of clearing their lines and the ball fell invitingly for Scott Adams, but the off-balance forward hoisted high over on 17 minutes.
Four minutes later SAdams went round keeper Zack Ellis only to be blocked out by Dingwall.
A tantalising Jack MacIver ball across goal had no takers on 27 minutes.
Buckie Thistle saw their hopes of a Highland League trophy double dashed in a penalty shoot-out by Inverurie Locos.
In their seventh game in two weeks, Jags dominated the 90 minutes but couldn’t find the net in a goal-less encounter at Kynoch Park.
A marathon shoot-out needed 18 kicks before Mark Souter fired home Locos winner to clinch a 7-6 success for the Harlaw Park men.
Buckie centre back Jack Murray almost added to his 26-goal tally on 38 minutes with a hooked volley which beat Ellis but rebounded off the inside of the right hand post, before Ellis flapped out to save the loose ball ahead of Max Barry.
Jags continued to press in the second half with Ellis palming away a MacIver drive and Locos scrambling clear for a corner.
From MacIver’s corner, Murray again hooked goalwards but Ellis made another defiant block.
Frustration got the better of Jags’ manager Graeme Stewart and his protests to referee Duncan Nicolson earned a yellow card.
Barry was next tpo force a save out of Ellis as the Buckie pressure continued.
Stewart made a quadruple sub just after the hour, injection a raft of fresh legs into the fray with Josh Peters, Lyall Keir
After an untidy spell, Buckie pushed for a winner with Sam Morrison having an effort cleared off the line, then sub MacAskill forcing an Ellis save from 30 yards.
Locos stayed firm until the 90 minutes and the five extra to force a penalty shoot-out.
Max Barry saw Buckie’s second kick saved while Locos sub Blair Smith was thwarted by Stuart Knight for Locos’ fourth, and with the scores at 4-4 it went to sudden death.
The score then went to 6-6 before Josh Peters and Logan Johnstone both hit the crossbar.
Buckie captain Sam Pugh took Jags’ ninth and Ellis saved brilliantly, paving the way for Mark Souter to blast home and win it for Inverurie.
Buckie: Knight, McCabe (Fyffe 61), Morrison, Murray, Ramsay, Pugh, Wood, MacIver (Keir 61), Barry, Goodall (MacAskill 61), Adams (Peters 61).
Subs: McHardy, Mackinnon, Harvey, Munro, Storrier.
Inverurie: Ellis, Mitchell (Reid 67), Souter, Dingwall, Ochmanski, Johnstone, Halliday, L Robertson (Burnett 67), Anderson, Wilson, Gaffney (Smith 60).
Subs: Duncan, S Robertson, Chauvin, Bednarowski, Clark, Oluyemi.
Ref: D Nicolson
