Wick Academy can still cause Highland League leaders Brechin City problems, insists Scorries manager Gary Manson
Gary Manson says he still expects Wick Academy to cause problems for Highland League leaders Brechin City this weekend, despite knowing his side will be seen as the underdogs.
The Scorries make the trip to Glebe Park just three weeks after losing 4-1 to Brechin at Harmsworth Park, with their originally scheduled match against Turriff United postponed due to Highland League Cup action.
Having that previous encounter so fresh in the mind could be both a blessing and a curse for Wick, who will know exactly what they are coming up against tomorrow afternoon.
Manson believes Brechin are the best side his squad have faced so far in a campaign that has seen Wick already take on several teams who would expect to be in title contention, but while acknowledging that not many outside of Caithness will expect Wick to get a result he will still be demanding of his side.
“I don’t really buy into the idea of free hits,” he stressed.
“You could say that nobody is expecting anything from us, but it’s a game of football where three points are available.
“We will go down there knowing fine well that we’re underdogs, and knowing that nobody outwith our changing room have any expectations of us, but at the end of the day it’s a game of football to be won.
“Three points are available, so that’s what we’ll be aiming to get. We’ll set out our stall to frustrate them as best we can, and we’ve shown this season and last that we can hit on the counter really quickly.
“We’ve got fast players in our team, and we can move the ball forward quickly when we have to, so I would expect us to create a handful of chances at least on Saturday.
“It’s up to us then to take them, and the difficult part will be keeping the back door shut and keeping them out.
“We will need a lot of things to go in our favour if we are going to take anything out of the game.”
Manson expects to have the same squad of players available to him as he did for last week’s last-gasp win over Rothes, but he will be buoyed by the lack of a midweek fixture meaning he has had two full training sessions to prepare for the test of Brechin.
That may be needed, with Manson’s perception of the 2023 Highland League champions very high.
“It has been very hectic so far this season,” he admitted.
“We actually got two training sessions under our belts this week which is helpful when you’re trying to prepare for Brechin away, because it doesn’t get much tougher than that.
“We’ve played Fraserburgh, Buckie, Brora and Brechin, and Brechin stood out for being far and away the best that we’ve come up against so far.
“We know exactly what their strengths are, so it will be up to us to come up with a plan to combat those.
“They have an abundance of good players, they are well organised, and the biggest thing that I took out of it was their hunger to win the ball back when they lost possession. That’s a trait of every good team, no matter what level you’re playing at.
“Our boys never got a split-second on the ball. Last Saturday against Rothes our boys were getting time to take as many touches as they wanted and get their heads up and play, but against Brechin within a split-second at least one Brechin player was right in your face.
“It’s one of those games where we’ll need to be at our absolute best, and hopefully they have an off day and we get a few strokes of luck. You never know what might happen then.”
