Andy MacAskill is rated as the best player in the Highland League by his Buckie Thistle manager Graeme Stewart after Saturday's 5-1 win at Inverurie Locos
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BUCKIE Thistle could have the best player in Highland League football in Andy MacAskill, according to Jags boss Graeme Stewart.
MacAskill was the star of Buckie’s sparkling 5-1 league win at Inverurie Locos on Saturday, scoring twice.
Jags 15th consecutive league victory boosted their title aspirations, with leaders Fraserburgh surprisingly dropping points at home to lowly Turriff United.
Stewart was delighted with his team’s success in the first of a double header of matches against Locos.
And he was particularly pleased with the display of his midfield playmaker.
“We showed our class, and Andrew MacAskill was the best player on the pitch by a mile,” he said.
“He’s been like that for most of the season and this is probably as good as he’s played since I’ve been at Buckie and he’s shown he is one of, if not the best, player in the Highland League right now.”
Match report: Inverurie Locos 1 Buckie Thistle 5.
Max Barry’s 14th goal of the season got Buckie in front midway through the first half with Marcus Goodall quickly adding a second.
The match was briefly back in the melting pot when Ryan Broadhuist headed in for Locos before the hour mark – a test for Jags winning run.
But the visitors came through it with flying colours, stepping up a gear to put the contest beyond Locos’ reach.
MacAskill ran through to make it 3-1, Sam Urquhart’s 22nd of the campaign added kore icing and a sublime MacAskill free kick – his 17th of the season – was the cherry on the top for a rampant Buckie side.
Stewart was happy to see the run continue, but still saw small areas for improvement in his team.
“I am delighted with the win. We’re perfectionists, so I’d probably say there were still bits we could improve on, but beating Inverurie 5-1 away is a great result.
“That doesn’t happen a lot and I don’t think they have been beaten here that much this season.
“We played well and dominated the game but then the sloppiness at 2-0 just for a five-minute period brought them back into the game.
“That’s the disappointing bit because the match could change then, they could get another goal and all of a sudden a game that should be comfortable you get a draw or a defeat.
“We’ll learn from that but overall we’re over the moon and we just could defend a little bit better in that one-off moment.
“I thought we were outstanding in the first half and better than we were in the second. We dominated against the wind, playing really good football and we probably should have had another goal.
“In the second half they played better in the first 10 to 15 minutes and we knew it was going to happen.
“You’re not going to dominate a game for 90 minutes, it is very rare even when you are playing teams at the bottom of the league.
“The only disappointment from the match was that we conceded a goal and we will work on that.”
