Acks stick boss Coghill through pressure cooker
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
THURSO Acks boss Murray Coghill admitted his blood pressure went through the roof as his side snatched a dramatic win at Halkirk.
Coghill had seen his men blow a 2-0 lead and they came with a centimetre of the crossbar of falling behind late on.
As if that wasn’t dramatic enough, Paul Wares secured a sensational 3-2 victory for Acks with the final kick of the match.
Sean Munro’s brace looked to have put Acks on course for a routine away win in CAFA Division One.
However, while Halkirk are struggling at the foot of the table, a big improvement has seen an extra dose of resilience being instilled into them and they were rewarded when Michael Bremner fired in a double of his own.
With five minutes left, Bremner looked to have won it for the home side only to see his seemingly net-bound shot crash back off the underside of the bar. It was a miss that proved to be pivotal as a flowing move from Acks saw Wares coolly slot the ball home seconds before the final whistle went.
A relieved Coghill said: “I’m sure that was great to watch if you were a neutral but that sort of game does little for the nerves when your own team is involved.
“After all that happened with them coming back and hitting the bar, my blood pressure went through the roof when Paul scored our late winner.”
He added: “We should have scored a few more at 2-0 up though and spared ourselves the drama.
“But we have the three points when we could so easily have lost the lot, so we’ll take this.”
Halkirk striker Bremner was disappointed to lose but says the initial comeback is something he and his team-mates can build on.
He said: “We had a bit of bad luck with my shot near the end hitting the bar and then them scoring with the final kick.
“But we showed a determination to come back that maybe wasn’t there at the start of the season.
“We probably would have let our heads drop a few weeks ago but we didn’t and pushed Acks all the way.
“Hopefully we can use this to work on closing games out because we have been improving these last few games.”
Elsewhere, Thurso Swifts managed to keep a determined Lybster at arm’s length with a 4-3 win.
Craig Ross gave them the lead before Billy Cairns levelled for Lybster. Then goals from Aaron Wilson and player/manager Nigel Mackenzie moved Swifts to a 3-1 lead.
Cairns struck again for Lybster before Mackenzie added a fourth.
Paul Gordon got a late consolation for the Cow Park men.
Mackenzie said: “It was one of those games where you think you’re done but the opposition somehow keep coming back at you. We played well and the result was not in doubt, but Lybster just never gave up and battled right until the end.”
