WICK ACADEMY ....................................... 3
FORRES MECHANICS ............................... 2
Scorers – Wick: D. Allan (1), S. Mackay (42, 54). Forres: Scott (66), MacPherson (87).
HARMSWORTH Park hosted its first match in two months, but for the hundreds of fans who shivered in the Arctic blast it was definitely worth the wait.
In a David versus Goliath match, the tallest team in the league were toppled by the plucky Caithness club which recorded its eighth win in 12 matches.
Despite the home side racing into a 3-0 lead, league chasers Forres Mechanics showed why they are still in the hunt for their first title in 26 years with a superb fightback.
But where in the past Academy might have buckled under the pressure, they stood firm to pick up another win against one of the Highland’s League’s top five.
Both teams walked out of the dressing room to gales and heavy hail in bitterly cold conditions, but from the off Academy showed that they were hot stuff.
Forres, whose title challenge has gone off the rails in recent weeks, were caught cold after only 56 seconds when Ross Allan crossed from the left to find elder brother Davie unopposed in the 18-yard box to lash the ball past Stuart Knight to the delight of the home crowd.
Academy dominated the first half allowing their opponents only one shot in the first 45 minutes.
Richard Macadie had a golden opportunity to double the home side’s lead on 18 minutes when a misguided header from Graham Fraser found Gary Manson who slid the ball through to the midfielder, but his effort went just wide.
The Can-Cans struggled to cope with Academy’s passing game and conceded three minutes before half-time as Sam Mackay stamped his authority on the game.
A long ball was met with confusion in the visitors’ defence, and a misguided clearance from Graham Grant fell to Davie Allan who found a way through the wall to Mackay, who managed to hold off Neil Whyte to land his effort in the top right corner.
Twelve minutes into the second half and the game looked to be over when man-of-the-match Mackay made it 3-0.
Nineteen-year-old Grant Steven, who has been in sensational form this season, sent a long ball from midfield to find Mackay who drew Knight to the edge of the box before calmly slotting the ball over the line.
The sleeping giants awoke after the hour mark and started to use their obvious physical advantage in an attempt to take something back to Moray.
The fightback began on 66 minutes when Neil Whyte booted a long ball into the box which Kyle Scott controlled well with his chest before driving a low range shot past Michael Gray.
Macadie almost restored Academy’s three-goal advantage on the 80th minute after Mackay beat two defenders on the left wing to cross in a superb ball which his team-mate latched on to, but Knight pulled off a great save to keep the deficit to two.
With three minutes to go, Ross MacPherson scored a spectacular 25-yard effort landing in the top right corner after Wick’s defence failed to clear the ball from the box properly.
With the referee declaring five minutes of injury time, there was the feeling that Forres would rescue a point when they won a corner.
Matthew Davidson’s cross found the head of Nathan Sharp whose effort beat Gray, but not Mackay who lashed it off the line to concede another corner.
Davidson once again found the head of Sharp who guided the ball goalwards, but it hit the top of the crossbar, much to the horror of his team-mates but the relief of the home side.
Wick Academy: Gray, M. Steven, Manson, Farquhar, G. Steven, Shearer, Cunningham (Ross 75), S. Mackay, D. Allan, Macadie (Weir 82), R. Allan. Subs not used: Sinclair, J. Mackay, Bokas.
Forres Mechanics: Knight, Fraser, Allan, Grant, Sharp, MacPherson, Whyte (Moore 83), Duguid, Tweedie (Davidson 45) Scott, Macnab (Ross 66). Subs not used: Green, Bremner.
Referee: Billy Baxter.
