It's a painful one, admits Gray as 10-man Academy are hit for six by Locos
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Assistant manager Michael Gray admitted some “soul-searching” was required in the aftermath of Wick Academy's heaviest home defeat in the Highland League for 26 years.
The under-strength Scorries were already trailing by three goals to title contenders Inverurie Locos when Gordon MacNab was sent off just after the half-hour mark on Saturday. Locos added three more in the second period to wrap up a 6-0 victory, with Kieran Shanks completing a hat-trick.
“We were punished for errors," Gray said. "That's the nature of football – if we don't do our jobs properly then we're going to get punished, and rightly so."
Academy were missing Ross Allan, Jack Henry and Andy Hardwick as well as their longer-term absentees but they started well.
“In the first 10 to 15 minutes we looked good," Gray said. "We looked competitive, we looked aggressive in the final third – maybe not creating great chances, but I didn't think they did either.
“But then we just seemed to capitulate for a period and before you know it you're 3-0 down.
“That's what you are going to get with teams that are up at the top of the league. They've got that kind of ruthless streak.
“We've got to be ruthless at both ends of the park. In defence we've got to be more aggressive in terms of our approach, we've got to be tighter, we've got to be more disciplined and our concentration levels have got to be better.
“You just don't get time to switch off in these kinds of games. Good players will punish you, and they did.
“It's a really tough day for us. There is a lot of soul-searching inside as well because that is a painful one.
“Sometimes you can go down to 10 men in certain circumstances and it can galvanise you. But today it was a really tough ask for the guys.
“One thing I would say is that they tried manfully in the second half. You didn't see them dropping their effort levels.
“Unfortunately tiredness did start creeping in near the end and we were getting picked off.”
Gray added: “Jack Halliday and Ryan Campbell were covering a lot of ground and I thought Davie Allan was really sharp in the first half as well. I thought he looked dangerous, it's just that we couldn't get our link-up play going.”
Academy finished the game with four of their under-18s on the park.
“We've got young guys that are getting minutes under their belts, so that is one positive," Gray said. "It's not ideal having to put them on in that situation, but they've got to learn their trade and it's a learning curve for them too.”
Harmsworth Park stood up well to heavy rain, although a strong wind was blowing up the park and Locos had it in their favour in the first half.
The opener came on 10 minutes when Robert Ward's free kick on the left was spilled by Graeme Williamson. Mark Souter was quickest to react as he stabbed the ball home from close range.
Locos doubled their lead after 22 minutes when Souter's cross was headed in firmly by Ross Still.
The visitors struck again on the half-hour mark when Lloyd Robertson played the ball in from the left and Shanks hammered a first-time shot high past Williamson.
Three minutes later MacNab was given his marching orders by referee Gordon Seago for a second bookable offence.
Locos added a fourth on the hour mark when Ward was allowed time to create space for himself inside the box before drilling a low shot into the net at Williamson's left-hand post.
Shanks struck again on 67 minutes with a first-time effort after he got on the end of a free kick from the left, and he completed his treble in stoppage time when he bundled the ball in after a shot had been blocked by Williamson.
There were decent efforts by Wick's Mark Macadie, Jack Halliday and Steven Anderson in the first half, and after the break Halliday forced a good save from Andy Reid with a long-range drive.
However, there was no way through and this was Academy's heaviest home defeat in a league match since being beaten by the same score against Lossiemouth in April 1995 – towards the end of Wick's debut season as a Highland League club.
It was Academy's biggest home defeat in all competitions since Keith won 7-0 at Harmsworth Park in a Highland League Cup first-round tie in April 2006.
Inverurie's six-goal display at Harmsworth Park kept them very much in the title mix after leaders Fraserburgh suffered their first league defeat of the campaign.
Locos' manager, former Inverness Caledonian Thistle defender Richard Hastings, said: “We're delighted that we were able to get the three points with a clean sheet, six goals and another hat-trick from Kieran Shanks."
Fraserburgh's 2-1 loss to Rothes has made things tighter at the top of the table. Locos, Rothes and Brechin City are now six points adrift of the Broch, while Buckie Thistle and Brora Rangers are not far behind with games in hand.
“You can only take care of your own game,” Hastings said. “You have to stay up there, you have to do your bit – you can't rely on results elsewhere.”
Wick Academy: Williamson, Hughes, Manson (C Farquhar 73), Mackay, J Anderson, R Campbell, Halliday, D Allan (Mathieson 81), S Anderson, M Macadie (Bain 73), MacNab. Sub not used: More.
Inverurie Locos: Reid, Mitchell, Dingwall, Souter, Ward, Still, Shanks, Burnett (Michie 46), Gill (Gerrard 77), Meres (Halliday 58), Robertson. Sub not used: Cook.
Referee: Gordon Seago.
Before Saturday, the last time Academy had lost by a six-goal margin in a league game was a 6-0 defeat to Cove Rangers at Inverurie's Harlaw Park in October 2016.
Locos were the last visiting team to score six at Harmsworth Park, in a 6-3 league win in August 2014.
It was the second successive game at Harmsworth Park in which the opposition manager was an ex-international player. Brechin City, who won 3-1 at Harmsworth Park on October 16, are managed by former Northern Ireland internationalist Andy Kirk. Locos' Richard Hastings won 59 caps for Canada, scoring once – against Mexico in the quarter-finals of the 2000 Concacaf Gold Cup, a tournament Canada went on to win.
Fraserburgh's defeat at Bellslea Park came after 13 wins and a draw in their opening 14 league games this term.
An Alan Pollock penalty and a Bruce Milne header put Rothes two up at the break. Grant Campbell pulled one back for the leaders but they couldn’t find an equaliser.
Brechin City kept up their pursuit with a 1-0 win away to Clachnacuddin. Marc Scott got the goal midway through the second half.
Buckie Thistle eased to a 6-0 victory at Strathspey Thistle, while Brora Rangers were 4-0 winners at home to Turriff United.
Formartine United had a 4-1 victory at home to Deveronvale. Forres Mechanics won 5-2 at Huntly, while Lossiemouth and Nairn County drew 1-1.
Keith's scheduled match against Fort William was called off after Kynoch Park failed a pitch inspection on Friday.
