McKenna admits Scorries were lacking game time after opening defeat at Fraserburgh
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Manager Tom McKenna admitted that his Wick Academy players were lacking in fitness and game time as they slumped to a 5-0 defeat to Fraserburgh on the opening day of the Highland League season.
The Scorries completed a league double over the Broch last term but they fell well short at sunny Bellslea Park on Saturday as Sean Butcher and Scott Barbour hit two goals apiece and Aidan Combe added another.
"It’s a bad result," McKenna said. "You don’t want to concede that many goals, but as coaches we knew we were probably two weeks away from where we should be regarding our fitness levels and game time."
Academy went into the league curtain-raiser after mixed fortunes in three pre-season friendlies – away defeats to Nairn St Ninian and Orkney either side of a home win against a Caley Thistle development team.
McKenna said: "You still go down there with hope and self-belief that you’re going to come away with something. The training has been good, the attitude is good – but you need games.
"If you don’t get the relevant game time you’re off to a bad start and it was very, very evident. Fraserburgh were a lot sharper and lot fitter. Their speed of thought and speed of movement was far superior to ours.
“As a manager, as a coach, you’ve got to look at positives as well and there were a few solid individual performances.
“Even when the guys were behind 4-0, for probably 20 minutes I thought we were the better team. People will say, ‘They took their foot off the pedal,’ but I’m not concerned with that. I thought we showed great attitude and great character.
Fraserburgh were a lot sharper and lot fitter. Their speed of thought and speed of movement was far superior to ours.
“A lot of teams would have just thrown in the towel and accepted a bigger scoreline but these guys battled away and played some decent football at times.
“Fraserburgh were more clinical in front of goal than us. We did create chances but we couldn’t convert them.
“We knew where we were with our fitness levels and game time but it’s a bitter blow to lose 5-0.”
Butcher headed the opening goal on 14 minutes and Barbour slotted in a second for the Broch six minutes before the break. Combe extended the lead with a long-range effort four minutes into the second half, and Butcher and Barbour were on target again in 56 and 86 minutes respectively.
One factor that has made it more difficult to fix up pre-season friendlies against senior opposition is the present Betfred Cup format, which means teams from all divisions of the SPFL are committed to playing competitive games long before the league season kicks off.
“It does make the task a lot harder to get pre-season friendlies against decent opposition with that cup starting early doors,” McKenna said.
Looking ahead to next summer, the Wick manager feels it would be worth investigating a possible tie-up with another north club to invite a high-level team to come up for two matches – perhaps with a golf day in between as part of a mini-break package. That could be a more enticing prospect, he believes, than trying to arrange a one-off game.
New-look Fort get off to a losing start at Brora
THERE has been much speculation about the prospect of a new chapter for perennial Highland League strugglers Fort William – although their opening fixture brought a familiar scoreline as they were beaten 6-0 at Brora.
Summer signing Jordan Macrae scored twice, as did Kyle Macleod, with Paul Brindle and Craig Campbell getting the others as the Dudgeon Park club went to the top of the table on goal difference.
Fort grabbed a few headlines at the end of last week after bringing in no fewer than nine young Caley Thistle players on loan.
The Lochaber side hope the injection of new talent can help change their fortunes, having failed to win a league match in two years. Last season they lost 32 of their 34 fixtures and finished on minus seven points after having nine points deducted for fielding an ineligible player in three games.
Inverness failed with a bid to enter a colts team into the Highland League this season to replace Cove Rangers.
The deal with Fort William will see goalkeeper Martin MacKinnon, defenders Donald Morrison, Gabriel Hastings, Ryan Fyffe and Harry Nicolson, midfielders Jack Brown, Kieran Chalmers and Wick lad Ross Gunn along with striker Roddy Kennedy play for the Claggan Park club.
Caley Thistle said on their website: "This is a truly ground-breaking initiative and we look forward to seeing the boys develop in the Highland League with Fort William and we see it as a benefit for both clubs and Highland football in general."
Fort William released a statement saying: “It has been well documented the difficulties our club has endured both on and off the park over the last two and a half years. We were close to shutting the door last summer but the dedication of a few hardy souls kept the club alive and got a team on the park.
“A few weeks ago we were approached by Caley Thistle to discuss the possibility of working together in some way to allow some of their talented young players to continue their development. Our policy has always been about nurturing young talent whilst at the same time improving our team so this was clearly attractive to us.
“After lengthy discussions an agreement was reached that will see the best of Caley Thistle’s young footballers showcase their talents in the Highland League whilst supporting Fort William’s existing players and help them improve and develop.
“We understand that some might be concerned that this is some sort of takeover from Caley Thistle but this is far from the case. We at Fort William FC have driven this initiative forward and believe it will benefit ourselves, Caley Thistle and Highland football as a whole.”
Five-star Formartine underline title credentials
Formartine United delivered a powerful statement about their Highland League title credentials as they cruised to a 5-0 victory away to Keith on the opening day.
Graeme Rodger helped himself to a hat-trick and there were further goals by Garry Wood and Jonny Crawford.
A second-half penalty by Kris Duncan was enough to give Lossiemouth a 1-0 home victory over Huntly. It means that Lossie have already won half as many league games as they managed in 2018/19, when they finished second bottom on eight points.
Strathspey Thistle began the campaign in positive fashion with a 2-0 home win against Clachnacuddin, with new signings Andrew Skinner and Liam Taylor on target.
Liam Shewan and Gordon McNab got the goals as Nairn County won 2-0 away to Deveronvale, who visit Wick this weekend.
Ten-man Rothes came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Turriff United at The Haughs.
The Speysiders' goalkeeper Ewan MacDonald was sent off in the early stages for handling outside his area, and Turriff appeared to take charge of the game with a double from Angus Grant.
However, goals from Aidan Wilson and Jamie Duff gave the visitors a share of the points.
Buckie Thistle produced an even better comeback to win 3-1 at Inverurie.
The Jags fell behind to a Mark Souter goal and then lost Joe McCabe to a red card, but they recovered to take all three points with strikes from Scott Adams (2) and Sam Robertson.
