City are on the road again tomorrow afternoon for another vital Highland League fixture, this time against table-topping Buckie Thistle at Victoria Park.

The Jags go into the game as the form side of the league and have in fact won 13 consecutive Highland League matches since their last defeat which was, coincidentally, inflicted by City at Glebe Park in October.

Graeme Stewart's side picked up an impressive 3-1 win over Fraserburgh in midweek which saw them leapfrog the Broch into pole position.

City, meanwhile are coming off the back of a last gasp win over Forres Mechanics at the weekend which made it 3 consecutive wins without conceding.

TEAM NEWS
City will continue to be without on-loan defender Nathan Cooney who misses out with a foot injury. After missing the last couple of matches, experienced midfielder Michael Paton has trained this week and should be available for selection. Otherwise there are no fresh injury problems and City should head into the game with a near full squad.

MANAGERS COMMENTS
Looking back at the last-gasp win over Forres at the weekend, Andy Kirk commented, "It was a difficult game, Forres worked hard and made it really difficult for us. It wasn't our smoothest performance - there were a lot of mistakes but the players kept going right to the end and they got their reward."

City players were aggrieved when Murray Mackintosh's header wasn't adjudged to have crossed the line during the first half. Andy added, "By all accounts the ball had gone over the line - the substitutes warming up saw it and even their player had said he was well over the line when he cleared it. It was just one of those things - if we had got the goal in the first half it would have been a different game.

"It's nice to win the game in that way though. We all want to win matches comfortably but sometimes moments like that stick in the players heads. We were delighted with the overall determination to win the game. You could see what it meant to the players celebrating at the end - the likes of Jack Wills was away down the other end of the park to celebrate with the boys and all of the subs involved too.

"You can see with Kev (McHattie) when he plays week in week out that his technique is different class. He has a great range of passing and he has been a great player for us, with a lot of experience. I was just glad to see it hit the net."

Looking ahead to a crunch match against Buckie Thistle tomorrow, he said, "Buckie are a good side - we've had two games against them already this season at home, winning one and losing one. We're under no illusions that Buckie are one of the best teams in the league so it's going to be a really tough game.

"We're looking forward to it having got ourselves back on track after two defeats. Buckie's win over Fraserburgh on Wednesday night gives them a big boost and really opens things up. If we can go up there and get the result that we are looking for then it keeps us in contention."

ADMISSION INFORMATION
Admission prices at Victoria Park are £10 for adults and £5 for concessions (Under 16's and over 60's). Under 12's are free when accompanied by an adult.

SUPPORTERS TRAVEL
The Supporters Club are running a coach to the match which will leave St Ninian's Square at 10:45am. The cost of the bus is just £10 per person - to book please text 07740 856565 or email dwalker@brechincity.com.

The Supporters' Club would encourage everyone to wear a mask where possible and to carry out a lateral flow test before boarding.

MATCH OFFICIALS
The match referee tomorrow will be Graham Beaton, assisted by Paul McAvinue and Will McKay.

PREVIOUS MEETING
Brechin City 3-2 Buckie Thistle - 2 October 2021
City came out on top following a pulsating encounter between the sides at Glebe Park earlier in the season. A first City goal for on-loan Aberdeen midfielder Jack Milne and a penalty from Kieran Inglis had City in control, however the visitors levelled through quickfire goals from Sam Urquhart and Jack Murray early in the second half. City fought back and Marc Scott netted what proved to the winner for City on the hour mark.