It was close to a perfect day for us, says Wick Academy manager
Wick Academy’s performance against Forres Mechanics at Harmsworth Park could only have been improved upon if they’d kept a clean sheet, according to Gary Manson.
“If you take away their goal it would have been the perfect day,” the manager said after the Scorries’ 3-1 victory on Saturday on a pitch that cut up badly as the game went on.
“I said to the players at the end, at this time of year you get pitches like that and it’s never going to be pretty. We took our goals really well and then defended admirably.
“It was a thoroughly deserved win. It could have been more, but you’d have taken 3-1 at the start of the game all day.”
Owen Rendall put the Scorries in front from close range after eight minutes and Mark Macadie got in behind the defence to add a second with 25 minutes gone.
Marc Macgregor started and finished the sweeping move that made it 3-0 a minute into the second half after accepting a return pass from Kyle Henderson.
Forres substitute Liam Grant reduced the deficit on 65 minutes.
It was a continuation of the form Academy had shown in their 1-1 draw at Fraserburgh the previous weekend, albeit they then lost out 2-1 to Clachnacuddin in a Caithness gale in midweek.
“The goal straight after half-time settled us,” Manson said. “I’m delighted for the guys. They put a lot of work into it.”
Again there was a focus on youth, with six teenagers featuring for Academy.
“Every single game just now we're missing probably seven players,” Manson said.
“Matthew Robertson and Brandon Sinclair were back from Wednesday night and hopefully we’ll have another couple back next week. It will start easing, but at the moment we're having to rely on the teenagers.
“As I’ve said before, I have absolutely no problem using them because they’re playing so well at under-18 level. They are deserving their chance.”
Manson was pleased to see Mark Macadie getting on the scoresheet after returning from injury.
“Mark hasn’t had a long stretch in the team for a long time now so I knew he was going to tire,” the manager said. “The plan was always to take him off. He knocked his pan in and played really well.”
Steven MacDonald admitted Forres Mechanics “weren’t good enough” as they fell to a 3-1 defeat at Wick.
The Can-Cans’ manager felt that the home side adapted better to the conditions on a heavy playing surface at Harmsworth Park.
First-half goals by Owen Rendall and Mark Macadie put Academy in the driving seat and Marc Macgregor added the third just after the break.
Forres made a quadruple substitution early in the second half and shortly afterwards goalkeeper Jack Robertson went off injured, to be replaced by Cameron Farquhar.
The visitors pulled a goal back through Liam Grant midway through the second period.
“I think Wick played to the conditions better than we did,” MacDonald said. “It was a very heavy pitch but Wick handled it better – we didn’t handle it at all, and that’s basically what it came down to.
“We didn’t turn up and Wick thoroughly deserved their win.
“We’d said at half-time how disappointed we were with the way we’d played in the first half, and let’s go and sort it out in the second half – then straight away we lose another terrible goal and that was pretty much the game.
“To be fair, we kept at it and had a lot of chances after that. The subs definitely made a difference but the damage was done by then.
“We weren’t good enough and we didn’t deserve anything.”
A battling display by Rothes couldn’t stop them from slipping to the bottom of the Highland League.
The Speysiders went down 3-2 at home to title challengers Brechin City, while Strathspey Thistle climbed off the foot of the table after a 1-1 draw with Nairn County.
Rothes are bottom on goal difference and have played two games more than the Jags.
Angus Grant scored both Huntly goals in a 2-0 victory over Formartine United at Christie Park to make it 30 goals for the campaign.
League leaders Brora Rangers made it four straight wins with 17 goals scored and none conceded as they eased to a 5-0 success at home to Deveronvale. Fraserburgh won by the same score against Lossiemouth.
Results from Saturday, February 22: Banks O’ Dee 3, Clachnacuddin 0; Brora Rangers 5, Deveronvale 0; Fraserburgh 5, Lossiemouth 0; Huntly 2, Formartine United 0; Inverurie Locos 1, Keith 0; Rothes 2, Brechin City 3; Strathspey Thistle 1, Nairn County 1; Turriff United 1, Buckie Thistle 1; Wick Academy 3, Forres Mechanics 1.
Highland League bottom five: 14 Keith (played 23, points 22, goal difference -22); 15 Wick Academy (27, 20, goal difference -38); 16 Lossiemouth (25, 16, goal difference -38); 17 Strathspey Thistle (22, 10, goal difference -53); 18 Rothes (24, 10, goal difference -65).
Fixtures – Wednesday, February 26: Clachnacuddin v Huntly. Saturday, March 1: Brechin City v Clachnacuddin; Forres Mechanics v Formartine United; Inverurie Locos v Rothes; Nairn County v Buckie Thistle; Strathspey Thistle v Keith; Wick Academy v Turriff United (3pm).
Wednesday, March 5: Brora Rangers v Nairn County; Deveronvale v Brechin City; Formartine United v Lossiemouth; Fraserburgh v Rothes; Huntly v Banks O’ Dee; Strathspey Thistle v Buckie Thistle.
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