Manager vows Wick Academy won’t be taking their foot off the gas
Gary Manson has promised that in-form Wick Academy will not be taking their foot off the gas with four games to go in their Highland League campaign.
The Scorries travel to Keith this weekend looking to continue a fine run that has seen them lose just once in their last six matches. They are unbeaten in their last four games, having won three and drawn the other.
The latest three points came on Saturday when Kyle Henderson led the way with a hat-trick in an excellent 4-1 victory over Lossiemouth at Harmsworth Park.
“I said to the boys, sometimes teams take their foot off the gas a wee bit towards the end of the season but we’re looking to do the opposite – we’re looking to put our foot down and really hammer home a strong finish to the season,” the manager said.
“We’ve got four games left and lots of points available, so we’ll be looking to go down to Keith and carry on the momentum and the performance levels. If we do that then the result will take care of itself, hopefully.”
Academy were clinical when chances came their way against Lossie. It was the second time this season the Coasters had been on the receiving end of a Henderson treble, as he scored all the Scorries’ goals in their 3-1 win at Grant Park in October.
George Ewing got the other Wick goal, with Owen Loveland pulling one back after Lossiemouth’s Oliver Hodgson had been sent off for a second bookable offence.
Goalkeeper James More was making his last appearance at Highland League level for Academy, 20 years after his debut.
Manson said: “You could probably go back eight or nine games where our performances have been really, really good but at the start of that we weren’t getting the kind of luck or the rewards that we were due. Now we are.
“It was really quite a comprehensive win. It was very comfortable. You don’t get many days like that where you can relax and just enjoy it. Everyone was really good.
“It was a funny game because we didn’t create an abundance of chances. We’ve played games where we’ve created a lot more chances and come away with just one or two goals, yet we’ve come away with four.
“Defensively it was really good as well. Yes, they got a goal, but it took a nick and on another day James just plucks that out of the air if it wasn’t for the deflection.
“Overall it was a really top performance and it keeps the momentum going.”
Keith go into this weekend’s encounter with Wick Academy looking to get back on track after two heavy defeats in the space of a few days in the Highland League.
The Maroons were hammered 7-0 at Huntly at the weekend, then lost 5-0 at home to Brora Rangers on Wednesday night.
Craig Mackenzie, Shane Sutherland, Matthew Wright, Alex Cooper and Max Ewan scored for the Cattachs as they reclaimed top spot on goal difference.
Fellow title contenders Brechin City suffered only their second league defeat of the campaign as a first-half goal by Milosz Ochmanski gave Inverurie Locos a 1-0 win at Harlaw Park.
Rothes ended a run of 12 league defeats to hand manager Ronnie Sharp his first point in charge.
But the Speysiders’ 0-0 draw with Lossiemouth wasn’t enough to take them off bottom spot as Strathspey Thistle also picked up a draw. The Grantown side scored in the first minute at home to Huntly and it ended 1-1.
Buckie Thistle moved up to seventh after beating neighbours Deveronvale 6-1 at Victoria Park.
Highland League results – Saturday: Brora Rangers 0, Brechin City 2; Deveronvale 1, Formartine United 2; Forres Mechanics 1, Buckie Thistle 1; Fraserburgh 2, Nairn County 0; Huntly 7, Keith 0; Inverurie Locos 5, Strathspey Thistle 0; Rothes 1, Banks O’ Dee 5; Turriff United 2, Clachnacuddin 1; Wick Academy 4, Lossiemouth 1.
Wednesday: Buckie Thistle 6, Deveronvale 1; Fraserburgh 1, Turriff United 0; Inverurie Locos 1, Brechin City 0; Keith 0, Brora Rangers 5; Rothes 0, Lossiemouth 0; Strathspey Thistle 1, Huntly 1.
Fixtures – Saturday, March 22: Banks O’ Dee v Turriff United; Brechin City v Forres Mechanics; Buckie Thistle v Formartine United; Clachnacuddin v Brora Rangers; Inverurie Locos v Fraserburgh; Keith v Wick Academy; Lossiemouth v Deveronvale; Nairn County v Huntly; Strathspey Thistle v Rothes.
