Cup tie between Wick Groats and John O'Groats to be played again after appeal
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Co-manager Grant Budge says the John O'Groats squad will require little in the way of a pep talk ahead of their Colin Macleod Memorial Cup rematch against Wick Groats.
When the teams met in a first-round tie in Wick last month, JOG thought they had knocked out the holders and county league champions as they prevailed 6-5 on penalties after the scores were level at 1-1 after 90 minutes.
However, the Wick club lodged an appeal, arguing that there should have been 30 minutes of extra time, even though the daylight was fading badly by the end of the 90.
The match had a 6.30pm kick-off on April 18. Sunset time for Wick on that date was 8.32pm.
Five weeks on, the outcome of a Scottish AFA appeal meeting is that the match is to be replayed. It will go ahead at Wick's Upper Bignold Park on Tuesday, May 31, with the winners facing Castletown in the quarter-finals.
Budge said: "We will just take it in our stride.
"They felt the game should have gone to extra time. The referee and ourselves disagreed with that because of the issue with light.
"Their appeal was successful, so there’s not much we can say about it. We wouldn’t have appealed it if the tables were turned – actually I would be embarrassed if any of my team even suggested it.
"They were entitled to appeal it, so maybe it’s fair enough. The boys won’t need much of a team talk for the game, that’s for sure."
Wick Groats manager Kevin Anderson said: “I think it's only right that we are getting the replay.
“It's in the constitution that cup games go to extra time and penalties.
“In the game in question, at the end of the 90 minutes the referee said that we were going to penalties.
"I questioned it at the time and said that's not actually what the rules are. He said that he was deciding, so we just left it at that.
“We spoke about it as a club the following morning and thought that wasn't actually his call, so we put an appeal in and obviously it was upheld.”
Thurso Acks have already qualified for the final, which is scheduled for Saturday, June 18. It is the first knockout competition of the Caithness AFA season.
Related stories:
- Blunden keeps his cool as John O'Groats knock out cup holders Wick Groats
- Five keepers in four games but Thurso Acks go through to cup final
