KEEPING grounded will be the game plan for Wick Academy when they take on the tallest team in the league.
Davie Kirkwood knows his side won't be able to compete in the air against Forres Mechanics tomorrow.
But he believes Academy's passing game should be enough to collect three points at the expense of the title chasers.
After last weekend's 3-1 victory against Fraserburgh - described as the team performance of the season by Wick's management - the Scorries are one of the form teams in the Highland League at the moment, winning seven out of their last 11.
The stats will not be ignored by other teams and Academy will have to work even harder for their victory, according to their manager.
"We're not going to win the first ball in the air, so we have to be ready to win the second ball," he said. "Forres are a big physical side which plays to its strengths through set-pieces. We know that they'll use their wingers to cross the ball into the box for their big lads to knock in. So we have to make sure that we're in a position where they won't be able to get an effort on target first time."
Plagued by a waterlogged pitch, Wick should be in a position to host a game at Harmsworth Park for the first time in two months.
The home side is suspension free and with James More still the only absentee, the rest of the squad has obtained a clean bill of health.
It is expected the squad will again field a 4-5-1 formation with Davie Allan playing the lone striker hoping to add to his tally of 13 goals.
After it looked like they would be sprinting out of sight during the first half of the season, Forres have suffered a drastic drop in form to relinquish top spot to Cove Rangers.
The Moray side will be aiming to get its campaign back on track and repeat its 2-1 success over Wick in October.
Manager Charlie Rowley said despite his title challenge being severely disrupted by adverse weather conditions, he is making no excuses for dropping points.
"The game against Wick is always a tight affair and they have proven recently they can mix it with the best in the league," he said.
"We have been going through a stop-start pattern in the last two months with us playing one game and then having two weeks off.
"I know the pitch at Wick hasn't been having a great time of things, but hopefully there will be a game on Saturday as we are looking for consistency again. We are confident that we can regain top spot from Cove as we have two games in hand.
"Being top of the table was a new scenario for us but not one we were taking for granted. The league is never won in the first half of the season and we want to end it on top."
