Highland League football season 2023-24: How it all unfolded, who won what and who were the leading goalscorers at each club
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It was the Highland League season when the champions won their final six games in less than a fortnight to snatch glory.
The 2023-24 campaign ended with Buckie Thistle overcoming major pitch problems to push their weary legs over the finish line and pip last year’s winners Brechin City to the crown on goal difference.
Helped by 26 goals from their centre-back, Jack Murray, Jags produced a stunning effort to take the title, only to be controversially denied a shot at the SPFL play-offs due to a club licensing wrangle.
The Victoria Park also landed the biggest match in their history when they drew Premiership champions and holders Celtic in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup.
The four cup competitions were won by clubs outside the league top three as Banks O’ Dee, Nairn County, Brora Rangers and Inverurie Locos snapped up the silverware.
It all kicked off at the end of July, with Brechin unfurling their flag before a 1-0 win over Formartine United while Buckie came from behind to nick a 3-2 win at Clach thanks to a stoppage time penalty winner - that result was to be reversed in equally dramatic circumstances later in the campaign.
Buckie won their first four games to go top before dropping their first points in a 1-1 draw at Formartine, netting a 90th minute equaliser after having keeper Stuart Knight sent off.
Banks o’ Dee inflicted the first defeat on Jags in September with a 2-0 success at Spain Park - Dee and Brechin remained unbeaten at this stage.
Brechin then won at Banks o’ Dee, while Huntly claimed top spot with an 8-0 thrashing of Clach to continue an impressive start under manager Allan Hale, who was soon to depart to take up the vacant post at SPFL Elgin City.
Keith belied a sticky league start by knocking Buckie out of the Highland League Cup on penalties, eventually going out in the semis to Brora.
Formartine breezed to the top, with Buckie’s pitch drainage issues beginning in October with the first of what proved to be numerous postponements leading to a fixtures headache both for the club and the league secretary John Campbell.
Storm Babet wiped out the entire league programme on October 21, while a week later six north sides drew League 2 opponents in the second round of the Scottish Cup and each one proved to be a close encounter.
Brora knocked out eventual League 2 champions Stenhousemuir on their own patch and Banks o’ Dee led then-leaders Dumbarton going into stoppage time, before two late, late goals broke Dee hearts. Huntly also led Forfar Athletic going into time added on but a last-gasp leveller paved the way for an extra time success for the Tayside men.
Fraserburgh took Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic to extra time and Brechin were narrowly beaten by league new boys Spartans.
Back on league business, Strathspey Thistle, who had started with nine straight defeats, broke their duck in impressive fashion with a 5-2 win over Deveronvale.
A day later, the North of Scotland Cup final between Nairn and Ross County turned out to be a classic at Clach’s Grant Street Park.
The Highland League men overturned an early 2-0 deficit to lead gong into the final minute before a Ross County goal forced extra time.
The wee County twice regained the lead in the additional 30 minutes as Sam Gordon’s decisive strike earned a memorable 5-2 success for the Station Parkers.
On November, ten-man Buckie scored stoppage time equaliser at the end of normal and extra time and won on penalties at Broxburn Athletic, before landing their dream Celtic Park date the following day. They were also boosted by league leaders Brechin’s first defeat at home to Fraserburgh.
Brora defeated Pollok to earn a shot at Cove Rangers in the fourth round.
The weather devastated the league programme in December with 28 matches falling by the wayside. Brechin made it back-to-back defeats in a thrilling 4-3 loss at Formartine but they still led the way at the turn of the year, although Buckie had games in hand.
Banks o’ Dee hoisted the Aberdeenshire Shield after a 2-0 win over Aberdeen at Cove’s Balmoral Stadium.
Again the winter bit hard of January games, but didn’t stop Buckie and 3000 of their fans making their way to Glasgow for their biggest day in front of the TV cameras. A 5-0 Celtic victory did nothing to take away any Jags joy from a special occasion on the big stage.
On league duty, Buckie were already playing catch-up and had played nine games less than rival clubs, before a bruising 3-0 defeat at Nairn put a reality check on their title aspirations.
They bounced back in sensational fashion, winning at Brora and Brechin before defeating Fraserburgh at Lossiemouth, with their Victoria Park surface again unplayable.
It now seemed that Jags had the momentum they needed to drive on to league glory, but the weariness began to set in.
Playing second-bottom Clach at home in late February, they let an early lead slip but Jack Murray’s 90th minute penalty seemed to rescue a point until the Inverness men exacted revenge on their opening day heartache by winning a spot kick of their own and netting with the very last kick of the game.
Brechin dropped points at home to Banks o’ Dee while Jags saw more games called off, then followed up a midweek victory over Fraserburgh with an inexplicable defeat at Lossiemouth.
The pattern continued, with Graeme Stewart’s side posting crucial Wednesday wins over Formartine and Brechin, only to lose to Wick Academy and draw with Inverurie Locos in weekend fixtures.
Brora won the Highland League Cup in a Harlaw Park penalty shoot-out after a 1-1 draw with Fraserburgh.
Jags’ dropped points had led manager Stewart to all but write off his team’s chances, needing to win all six of their remaining games in a 12-day period with an Aberdeenshire Cup final against Inverurie to follow quickly behind.
Brechin had lost for a second time to Fraserburgh so needed to do their own business and try to maintain their superior goal difference.
Battling Buckie gave everything in those final six games, and with two of them coming against beleaguered bottom side Strathspey they were able to not only tick off the wins, but seize top spot going into the final Saturday.
Victory over Keith would make Buckie champs providing Brechin didn’t run up a big score at Brora. Max Barry’s early strike was enough to earn the Jags points and although Brechin also won, courtesy of a stoppage time goal in Sutherland, the league trophy was transported to Victoria Park and the green and whites had ended their seven-year silverware drought.
The champs were to lose their Aberdeenshire Cup final on penalties to Inverurie three days later, and also their play-off match with East Kilbride - but nothing could take away the taste of glory after a remarkable championship success to cap a sensational Buckie season.
Leading goalscorers (all competitions).
34 - Grady McGrath (Brechin City)
29 - Scott Barbour (Fraserburgh)
26 - Jack Murray (Buckie Thistle)
24 - Lachie MacLeod (Banks o’ Dee), Jordan MacRae (Brora Rangers), Julian Wade (Formartine United), Andy Hunter (Huntly)
21 - Ryan Sargent (Fraserburgh), Ewan Clark (Turriff United)
20 - Josh Peters (Buckie Thistle)
19 - Sean Butcher (Fraserburgh)
16 - Max Barry (Buckie Thistle), Myles Gaffney (Inverurie Locos), John Allan (Turriff United)
15 - Ewan Loudon (Brechin City), Robbie Foster (Huntly)
Top scorers at each club:
Banks o’ Dee - Lachie Macleod 24, Hamish MacLeod 13, Ethan Cairns 13 (4 for Forres)
Brechin City - Grady McGrath 34, Ewan Loudon 15, Danny Handling, Fraser MacLeod both 9
Brora Rangers - Jordan MacRae 24, Max Ewan 13, Paul Brindle 12
Buckie Thistle - Jack Murray 26, Josh Peters 20, Max Barry 16
Clachnacuddin - Connor Bunce 10, Lewis Mackenzie 9, Conor Gethins 7 (6 for Nairn)
Deveronvale - Jack Mitchell 7, Jamie MacLellan, Ryan Park, Harry Noble, Cameron Angus all 6
Formartine United - Julian Wade 24, Aaron Reid 13, Adam Emslie 11
Forres Mechanics - Lee Fraser 7, Calum Frame, Shaun Morrison, Craig Mackenzie all 6
Fraserburgh - Scott Barbour 29, Ryan Sargent 21, Sean Butcher 19
Huntly - Andy Hunter 24, Robbie Foster 15, Angus Grant 13
Inverurie Locos - Myles Gaffney 16, Nathan Meres 6, Aidan Wilson 6 (4 for Rothes)
Keith - Gavin Elphinstone 10, Jordan Cooper 6, Mikey Taylor 5
Lossiemouth - Ross Morrison 8, Ryan Farquhar 6, Dean Stewart, Brandon Hutcheson both 5
Nairn County - Andrew Macleod 12, Ben Barron 10, Ciaran Young 9
Rothes - Jake Thomson 9, Michael Finnis 8, Gary Kerr 6
Strathspey Thistle - Jack Davison 11, Michael Mackenzie 8, Owen Loveland 4
Turriff United - Ewan Clark 21, John Allan 16, Murray Cormack, Reece McKeown both 9
Wick Academy - Marc Macgregor 11, Gordon MacNab 8, Ross Gunn, Kyle Henderson both 7.
