Clachnacuddin manager Jordan MacDonald calls on his young Lilywhites to take lessons from Buckie Thistle defeat into Inverurie Locos clash in Highland League
Jordan MacDonald wants his developing Clach side to carry lessons learned from Saturday’s second half battering at Buckie Thistle into this weekend’s clash with Inverurie Locos.
For much of the 4–1 defeat on the Moray coast, the Lilywhites more than held their own. Naivety, MacDonald felt, cost them at crucial moments in the second half.
Very much an admirer of this weekend’s opponents, now managed by Caley Thistle legend Richard Hastings, MacDonald stressed: “We played Inverurie Locos in the first game of the season and I was impressed by what they do.
“They’re on a different level to us at the moment, further ahead than where we want to be, but they get the ball down like we do, pass it and move it.
“They’re very good at it and they’re going along very nicely in the league, so it is going to be a really tough game for us.
“But even when we played them at the start of the season, it was very even and we didn’t deserve to get beat 5–0 in the end.
“It goes back to experience. They have really good players who can hurt you if given time and space.
“Our focus will be completely on Inverurie this week because we know how difficult it is going to be.
“We’ll work hard on it this week.
“One of the things that impresses me about our group of players is that our heads haven’t dropped and our mentality hasn’t changed.
“The players know now how we want to play and they’ve stuck to it. They’ve been brilliant. I can’t praise them enough.”
Locos sit fourth in the Highland League, six points behind leaders Fraserburgh, after 11 wins, four defeats and two draws.
If anything, Hastings’ men will present an even greater threat than Graeme Stewart’s Buckie side, who are sixth, but with games in hand to pass them.
Reflecting on the Buckie display, MacDonald added: “It was a very good first half. We missed a couple of great chances and there were two stonewall penalties we never got.
“If you give a good team like Buckie opportunities, they’re going to punish you. They did that in the second half.
“It was naive defending from us, for the second and third goals especially.
“It hurt us a wee bit afterwards because we were well in the game against a quality side. It was enjoyable, with two teams just going at each other. We’ll look to do the same at home to Inverurie.”
