‘Go for it,’ Scorries boss tells players
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IT’S Scottish Cup run number one for new Wick Academy manager Davie Kirkwood this weekend and he has a very simple message for his squad – “go for it”.
Coming up to battle the Scorries at 3pm tomorrow for a place in the second round is East Lothian first division side Coldstream.
The Borders-based outfit faces the longest journey in the Scottish Cup – 307 miles – and represents an unknown quantity to Kirkwood and his team.
“I don’t know much about the opposition other than that they play in the second tier down in the East Lothian league,” said the Academy manager.
“I’ve said to my players that we’ll just focus on ourselves.
“If you progress in the competition then obviously the opposition become more known to you and then we can do our homework.
“This one we’ll plan on our own and we’ll just go for it on Saturday.”
Academy go into tomorrow’s game on a high following a triumphant 8-1 win at home last weekend against Fort William.
However, Kirkwood believes his players have more to give and is keen for their confidence to grow.
“Scottish Cup matches are a dream for a lot of clubs – they can raise their game or they can get a bit of stage fright,” he said.
“If we can keep playing the way that we’ve been playing then I don’t think we can go far wrong.
“Knowing Coldstream are from the central belt I think they will be big and physical, but if you can pass the ball quicker the physicality is taken out of the game – that’s what we are going to be focusing on this weekend.”
The Academy boss has a full squad to choose from and is planning on making sure the players stay at the top of their game to prevent any mishaps.
“Once you get a team playing well I don’t think injuries come as often but once the pressure is on I think that’s when the little niggles tend to put players out,” he said. “Hopefully we won’t go through that spell.”
Kirkwood reckons that tomorrow could be another top-quality game and urged local fans to come out and give their backing to the start of another Wick Academy Scottish Cup campaign.
Meanwhile, in a bid to maximise their chances at progressing to the second round, Coldstream will be travelling up later today.
Streamers secretary Allan Easton said that the six-hour journey ruled out any possibility of them travelling up tomorrow, as they wanted to be fully prepared.
He added that the squad is looking forward to the match but, as with the home side, its opponents are an unknown quantity.
“We’re really looking forward to the game but we don’t know much about Wick,” he said. “But we did see that they won 8-1 at the weekend.”
Coldstream manager Andrew Gibson has a full squad free of injuries and suspensions to choose from and the club is also going to bring along a few supporters on the team bus.
“Obviously we’d like to win the game but we know it’s going to be difficult,” said Mr Easton.
“We’re definitely the underdogs, Wick will be favourites, no doubt about that.
“I think it will be a very tough game.”
