Deveronvale's last home fixture of a disappointing league campaign ended in defeat when former Vale favourite Franny More scored a controversial but none-the-less super solo effort in a poor game full of mistakes and fussy refereeing with very little in the way of goal mouth action to shout about. Gregg Carrol's description of the ninety minutes was unprintable but wasn't in the least bit positive which leaves him with a few headaches ahead of his team selection for next Saturday's semi-final against Forres Mechanics.
Vale huffed and puffed for the majority of the encounter without really threatening Kevin Main's goal although if Jamie Watt's effort had bulged the net rather than cannoning back of the upright early in the second half then things could have been a lot different for the home side. At that point in the game Vale were well on top although the Thistle defence had their eighteen yard box and keeper well protected leaving very little space for the home side to exploit, perhaps the main reason for their great run of late which has seen them climb above the Vale, up into third spot, following Saturdays result.
The visitors travelled to Banff looking for their second victory there this season but were without strikers Colin Milne and John Coutts in the battle for third place while Vale were also without key players.
Stuart Gray failed a late fitness test and was replaced at right-back by Darren McAllister and with Ryan Pressley and the suspended Barrie Stephen both unavailable Gregg Carrol was forced into bringing back the evergreen Nigel Montgomery, who made his first appearance of the season when he replaced Gordon Farmer for the last ten minutes of the match.
Better news for Mr Carrol was that of Jamie Watt who was struggling before kick off but was declared fit to partner Mike McKenzie after the striker passed a fitness check at two o'clock.

The green and white hoops of Buckie kicked off the derby match in near perfect conditions but it was Vale who made most of the early running and Watt came close with a header off a Chisholm knock down but Main was alert to the danger and made the save look easy as the ball rose up high towards his right-hand post.
Kidd then hooked a volley over from the edge of the area before Chisholm's downward header almost put his side into a ten-minute lead but the surface took the pace out of the midfielder's effort making the save more comfortable for the Jags' keeper.
Dolan made a fine interception to clear a dangerous looking low cross into his own penalty area after some sack defending from the home side.

The visitors were defending deeply allowing Vale to come at them and hadn't a single shot at goal during the first period but looked pretty solid at the back and looked comfortable in their system which was geared around a quick counter attack using the pace of More down the right with McGuigan and Taylor playing right on the shoulder of messers Dlugonski and Brown.
Farmer who had a relatively quiet afternoon showed some great skill to nut-meg Pirie before whipping in a super ball to Watt but unfortunately the wee striker couldn't quite wrap his foot around the ball to send it goalwards.

Vale won their third corner nine minutes before the interval but Farmer's centre failed to beat the first defender and Thistle cleared. The visitors won a similar award minutes later but they too failed to capitalise on the set piece leaving the sides all-square as they trotted off for a much needed half time talking to from their respective coaches.

A ball over the top of Steve Dolan saw Franny More scamper down the right flank looking at least a couple of yards offside but the wee winger-cum-striker carried on cutting inside and making headway towards Ross Bremner's goal. With no Vale defender choosing to close him down More ran into the eighteen-yard box before dribbling past the Vale keeper and dispatching the ball into the net. Dolan picked up a yellow for expressing his anger at the decision by the officials but the goal stood and Buckie completed the league double over their local rivals for the first in many a season.

Small cleared off the line after McAllister had darted into the Thistle box to meet a McKenzie through ball and although "Daz" beat Main to the ball he couldn't find a way past the experienced Small who had cleverly taken up the position as last man.
Gregg Carrol made a couple of changes to freshen things up and perhaps grab an equaliser but it wasn't to be their day and in fact it was the visitors who looked more the likelier to score. More firing and angled drive across the face of Bremner's goal and Angus heading just wide at the back post.
Bryan Dlugonski found himself in plenty of space 15-yards from goal but headed weakly over in Vale's last chance of a disappointing afternoon, which saw Clach move a step closer to the title with a one-nil victory at Keith while second placed Fraserburgh were held to a three-three draw at home to Inverurie Locos.

"End of season stuff in a nothing game which failed to entertain the crowd or satisfy the coaching staff" said angry boss Gregg Carrol.
"We controlled the game for long periods and had the majority of play but apart from hitting the post never really created enough chances to win the game which is disappointing especially after we had put a decent run together of late with some decent performances". We'll need to play a lot better next week if we want to make it to the final" added a sombre Carrol.

Vale:
Bremner, #Dolan (Cpt.), McAllister, Chisholm (Munro 77), Dlugonski, Brown, #Urquhart, Kidd, Watt, McKenzie, Farmer (Montgomery 77)

Subs not used: - Sharp, Noble, Phimister (GK)

Buckie
Main, Pirie, #Small, Catto, Angus, Munro, Shewan (#Davidson 77), Taylor (Gairns 62), McGuigan (Grant 82), More

Subs not used: - Slater, Lamberton

Referee:A. Mather