Dress rehearsal for cup tie counts for nothing warns Groats boss
Wick Groats flexed their muscles for Saturday's Highland Amateur Cup clash against Castletown with a comfortable win against the same opponents in their midweek dress rehearsal.
A whirlwind first-half display saw Groats establish a 3-0 lead thanks to goals from Sandy Sutherland, Graham MacNab and Mark Macadie.
Macadie was on hand in the second half to add another, giving Groats a 4-0 victory as they edge closing towards retaining the CAFA Division One title.
Castletown are back in town on Saturday as Groats' cup opponents, and on current form the Wick side will be expected to prevail.
However, Groats boss Kevin Anderson insists it would be foolish to make such an assumption.
He said: "I know we are the favourites for this one – more so after the league meeting this week – but that will not count for anything come kick-off.
"It's nice being in cup draws as the competition progresses but we won't be in any cup draw if we don't turn up on Saturday.
"Despite the scoreline of the league game, Castletown are always very competitive. If they show up with their best and we don't then they'll be in the semi-finals, not us.
"It's never easy when you play the same team in quick succession. If you win the first game, the other team will be extra-determined to prove a point and you have to handle the expectation of being favoured to win again.
I was not overly happy with the level of intensity we showed
"Castletown will be a totally different proposition come Saturday. Their current league position is a false one and we have to be on our guard."
Meanwhile, Highland Amateur Cup holders Pentland United kept up their title pursuit of Groats with a 4-0 win at John O'Groats.
Kyle Innes, James McLean and a brace from Murray Mackintosh secured the points. But, with a tough cup tie at Maryburgh on Saturday, boss Michael Gray has demanded his troops up their game.
He said: "It was not a vintage display from us. We lacked a wee bit of urgency in the first half.
"The second half was a bit better but I was not overly happy with the level of intensity we showed.
"We've an extremely tough cup game on Saturday and we will have to play much better than we did at John O'Groats.
"Maryburgh are the current Inverness league champions and are in contention to retain their title.
"We are under no illusion that this will be a very tough assignment and that we have to be at our best."
Staxigoe United warmed up for their Highland Amateur Cup tie against Shetland side Whitedale with a 4-3 win at Lybster.
Netting for Staxigoe were Chrissie Green, Sam Barclay, Danny Coghill and Kyle Henderson. Lybster's strikes came via Paul Gordon, Gary Weir and Gareth Miller.
United will face Whitedale at the neutral venue of Sir George's Park in Thurso – a decision that has pleased boss Andrew Banks.
He said: "There were moves to get the game played in Orkney which would have hurt us financially.
"So we're more than happy to go to Thurso. We don't know much about Whitedale but what I do know is that on our day we're hard to beat. But when we're not on our game, we get a bad result. We have to ensure that it's our day."
Elsewhere in the CAFA Division One, local derby bragging rights were shared as Thurso Acks and Thurso Swifts played out a 2-2 draw.
Sean Munro gave Acks the lead only for Derek Manson and an Allan Munro own goal to swing the pendulum back in Swifts' favour.
However, relegation-threatened Swifts were denied a rare victory as David Hale grabbed an equaliser for Acks.
