LEWIS MacKinnon was Buckie Thistle’s cup match winner on Saturday, vindicating his decision to play through the pain barrier for his team. The Jags player assistant netted both goals in their 2-0 Highland League Cup win at Rothes, despite nursing an achilles injury which has been bothering him for weeks. The heel injury needs rest but MacKinnon prefers to strap himself up and play instead of sitting on the sidelines in his club’s hour of need. He revealed how he has altered his training programme to avoid any impact on the problem, so that his 90 minutes on the park every Saturday is the only time he feels the strain. “It isn’t going away now until I get a good rest so that’s probably not going to happen until the end of the season now,” he said. “I have just reduced my training programme. I just do bike work and don’t do any training on artificial pitches so that seems to be keeping the pain down to a minimum now. “I’m my own worst enemy, I know there’s times when I should probably hold my hands up and not play or come off. “But with Keiran Adams offshore and Hamish Munro out injured it’s the team first and I always like to get the points and worry about injuries later.” Saturday’s win at MacKessack Park earned Jags a quarter-final home tie against Brora Rangers, while they also have an Aberdeenshire Shield semi-final at home to Formartine on December 5 to look forward to.
“There’s loads to play for,” said MacKinnon. “We are looking to break into the top six in the league and get as far in these cup competitions as possible. After a goal-less hour MacKinnon struck with a 25yard free kick and a header either side of a missed penalty from team-mate Andy MacAskill. “I like to take free kicks when they are a bit further out but it wasn’t the best of strikes to be honest. “I tried to give the goalie the eyes and make him think I was hitting it one way then I put it round the wall and dipped it in front of him. It’s found the net and if you’re having a pop and hitting the target you’ve always got a chance of scoring a goal. “The second was a good ball in from Andy, just where we want him to put the deliveries in. I just got my head on it and managed to get it in the far corner. “ It was at a good time with Andy having just missed the penalty previously, so it got us back in the ascendency.” MacKinnon used to take on the responsibility of taking Buckie’s spot kicks but doesn’t see him claim the role back in the near future. “The pressure is on Andy now. He’s a confident fellow and a good striker of the ball so we will give him one more and I’m sure he will put it away. “It’s always good to score a couple of goals in a game. I only had two to my name this season so I’ve doubled my tally now. The most pleasing thing was getting the win and getting through to the next round of the cup.” Next challenge for Jags is a league one against Inverurie Locos, who won 2-0 at Victoria Park on the opening day of the season. Neil Gauld, who has already broken the 30-goal barrier for goals this season, and ex-Jag Chris Angus got the Locos goals that day, two players MacKinnon hopes to snuff out this weekend. “Inverurie’s a tough place to go but we go there with confidence and if we can do our jobs I’m sure we can take care of the game.” n IT’S been a tough November for Buckie Rovers who went down to their third straight north junior Division 1 loss on Saturday. Rovers crashed 4-1 away to second-bottom Longside, following on from their home defeats to Sunnybank and Stoneywood Parkvale. Just as he did last week, Nikki Smith netted for the Merson Park men, who this weekend visit Superleague Hall Russell United in the North Regional Cup (1.15).