Highland League digest: New faces in at Banks o' Dee, Buckie Thistle and Formartine United

Press and Journal

29-05-2025

Sam Pugh has had a taste for success and is aiming to get his hands on more trophies with new club Banks o' Dee.
The midfielder has joined the Aberdeen outfit on a three-year deal following five years at Buckie Thistle, who he helped to win the Breedon Highland League title in 2024.
Pugh was with Inverurie Locos and Keith as a young player before heading to America for a scholarship at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa.
The 27-year-old joined the Jags when he returned to the north-east in 2020, but with his contract at Victoria Park expiring this summer, Pugh has decided to take on a new challenge with Dee.
He said: 'With my contract coming to an end I just felt it was the right time to move on.
'I was fortunate to have some good options to choose from, but the reason I chose Banks o' Dee is because in their time in the Highland League they've always been successful in terms of winning cups.
'They want to try to keep pushing on and being successful and I wanted to be part of that so hopefully we can have success.
'Winning the league at Buckie gave me a taste for winning things and wanting to win more and I feel Banks o' Dee is the place where I can do that.
'It's funny when we won the league last year with Buckie when we were celebrating on the Saturday night someone said to me 'plenty of people win it once, but not many win it twice.'
'Having had the feeling of winning the league I'd like to try to do it again.
'It was quite flattering the interest that clubs showed in me and there are pros and cons to every option.
'It was difficult to say no to clubs, but I'm hoping I've made the right choice with Banks o' Dee.'
As well as winning the Highland League with Buckie, Pugh captained Thistle when they played Celtic at Parkhead in the Scottish Cup in January 2024.
Looking back on his time with the Jags, he added: 'I've got great memories of my time at Buckie, I absolutely loved it at Buckie.
'When I came back from my scholarship I don't think a lot of people really knew me and Graeme Stewart took a chance on me at a time when I didn't have many options.
'The only regret I have from my time at Buckie was that we didn't win more because we put ourselves in the position to win things often enough.
'We were second in the league twice and lost four cup finals, but then when we did actually win the league that was really special.
'I'll never forget leading the team out at Parkhead as well, although it was very unlucky for Kevin Fraser. Kevin is the captain, but he was out injured so I got to lead the boys out.
'With Kevin being a Celtic fan I'd have loved for him to get the chance to do it, but to be captain on that day was special for me.
'The people at the club are amazing. My family come to all the games and the people at Buckie were always so welcoming to my family.'
Buckie Thistle boss Lewis MacKinnon says new recruit Ross Paterson arrives at Victoria Park with a hunger to succeed.
The Jags have signed the midfielder on a two-year deal from Lossiemouth, with his Coasters' contract expiring this summer.
Paterson, 28, is the second player Buckie have signed from Lossie this summer, following the capture of Ross Morrison earlier this month.
Thistle manager MacKinnon said: 'I became aware that Ross was available and when we played Lossiemouth in the last couple of seasons the games have been tough and particularly in the central midfield area, which Ross has been part of.
'He's fit, he's keen, he's a local Moray-based player and he's a free agent so he ticks a lot of boxes. We're delighted to get Ross on board.
'I think Ross Paterson, like Ross Morrison, is coming with a hunger to do well.
'He's joining a club bit further up the table and he's keen to push on.
'The attitude Ross has shown in the chats I've had with him has been really good and I think he'll flourish with ourselves.'
For a number of years Buckie have drawn players from Aberdeen and Inverness as well as Moray.
But MacKinnon says this summer he's largely been looking at players relatively local to Buckie and he hopes the Jags' supporters will back the new faces.
He added: 'The way things are at the moment I've had guys from Aberdeen and Inverness who aren't so keen to travel.
'So you have to look elsewhere and when opportunities arise to sign good local players like Ross Paterson and Ross Morrison then you can't pass that up.
'I think if you do well for Buckie the supporters don't care where you're from.
'However, there's no question they like seeing local lads from Buckie, or from Moray, in the team doing well.'
Manager Stuart Anderson believes Finlay Murray has a bright future with Formartine United.
The 20-year-old defender joins the Pitmedden club after leaving League One outfit Cove Rangers.
Murray was previously with Aberdeen and had a loan spell in the Breedon Highland League with Turriff United during the 2023-24 season.
However, he left Pittodrie last year and signed for Cove, but made only seven appearances for the Balmoral Stadium side, and has now joined Formartine.
Boss Anderson is looking forward to working with him and said: 'Finlay's a good young prospect, he's got bags of potential to develop into a really good centre-half.
'He's had a good background, coming from Aberdeen and Cove, and having that involvement in full-time football.
'He's one we feel can really develop with ourselves and we're looking forward to him getting started.
'The spell Finlay had at Turriff was his first spell playing men's football and he did really well at this level.
'We're a year on from that now and physically he's developed since then.
'I think Finlay will be a good fit for us and he'll give us another good option in the squad.
'Finlay probably had a frustrating season, he needs to get games under his belt, but he'll get plenty of opportunities with us.
'We've developed some good young players in recent seasons and hopefully he can be another one.'
This week Formartine have also secured defenders Rhys Thomas and Luke Strachan and striker Brody Alberts on contract extensions.
Anderson added: 'The three of them are good players and it was important for the club that we got them tied down.
'We're delighted that they see their future at Formartine, they've all got scope to develop further and hopefully they continue to get better and better.'