Henry ready to return to Wick squad for trip to Rothes
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JACK Henry looks set to return to the Wick Academy squad for Saturday’s Highland League trip to Rothes.
The 27-year-old midfielder has been working his way back from injury and could play at Mackessack Park as the Scorries look to bounce back from last weekend’s disappointing 3-2 loss at Huntly.
Forward Davie Allan could also be in contention after missing the game at Christie Park.
“Jack Henry trained on Tuesday night and he looked really sharp and really up for it,” manager Tom McKenna said. “We’ll assess how we move forward with Jack but it looks very encouraging.
“He’ll be in the squad for Saturday, unless he has a setback, and hopefully Davie Allan as well.”
The Huntly result brought an end to Academy’s four-game unbeaten run in the league. McKenna described Huntly “a big, physical team” in his post-match comments and he is expecting another tough test at Rothes.
“We’ve got to just focus on going forward and try to put last Saturday behind us. If there’s anything to learn from it we need to learn it as quickly as possible,” the manager said.
“We’ve got to be mentally strong. I think there’s enough experience in the team to allow us to move forward. We have strong characters and hopefully we’ll bounce back.
“But saying that, it’s a very tough game for us as Rothes have improved quite dramatically. In my time with the club I don’t think we’ve won there.
“It’s a place we’ve not done really well as a collective unit, so it’s going to be a big ask for us. Again they’ve got a lot of physicality in their team and we’ve got to cope with that a wee bit better than we did last week.”
Academy’s last win at Mackessack Park was a 9-0 rout in November 2016, but the Speysiders are a different proposition these days and are sixth in the table.
Meanwhile, McKenna is unhappy about Academy’s current extended sequence of away fixtures.
Their last home game was on September 14 – the 5-1 win against Lossiemouth – and they are not in action again at Harmsworth Park until Brora Rangers come north on October 26.
“It’s ridiculous,” McKenna said. “We’ve got Rothes away this week, then we’ve got Nairn away the following week. That’ll be six weeks without a home game.
“From a financial point of view the club is not generating any money and they’ve still got bills to pay. I was saying this to Tichie [assistant manager Richard Hughes] and he told me he has never experienced it in his time in Highland League football.
“It just seems a lot is going against us. Hopefully after Christmas we’ll have a lot of home games so it’ll balance itself out.”
