McLean says Wick Academy need to ‘put a complete 90 minutes together’
Wick Academy must show they can deliver a “90-minute performance”, according to defender Rob McLean.
The Scorries looked to be heading for a comfortable victory in Wednesday night’s Highland League match against Strathspey Thistle after first-half goals by Marc Macgregor and Gary Pullen.
But the second period belonged to the spirited Jags. Their captain James McShane reduced the deficit, they kept pushing forward up the Harmsworth slope, and few among the home support would have begrudged them a share of the points.
In the event, Academy held on to win 2-1 to make it maximum points from their opening two home fixtures.
“It's really important for us to get back on track with three points after taking a defeat [away to Huntly] at the weekend,” McLean said.
“I’m disappointed at the way that we played in the second half, though. I thought we played some good football at times in the first half, and moved the ball well, but we struggled to do that in the second half.
“On the pitch it definitely felt frantic, but what matters most is that we dug in at the end and got the three points.
“Obviously we rotated the squad a little bit and made changes but that shouldn’t affect the quality of the game, especially as we showed that we could do it in the first half.
“It’s got to be a 90-minute performance. When we start coming up against stronger opposition – with all respect to Strathspey – we’ll need to put a more solid 90 minutes together if we want to continue the good progress that we’ve made from the start of the season.”
Macgregor twice came close to opening the scoring in the early stages, thumping a free kick off the crossbar and being denied by an instinctive save from Ethan Rae.
He finally broke the deadlock after 23 minutes as he broke clear, knocked the ball past the keeper and thumped it in from almost on the line.
Right on 45 minutes Academy launched a swift attack and the ball was diverted by a defender into Pullen’s path. He had the simple task of slotting it into the net.
McShane scored the Jags’ first goal of the season after 53 minutes with a well-placed shot from distance that floated over trialist goalkeeper Lewis Gallacher and into the net.
The Scorries have another home game on Saturday, against Deveronvale.
McLean said: “We showed that we can dig in at the end tonight, but what we need to do is show a bit more quality than in that second half, put a complete 90 minutes together, and if we can do that then I’m sure that we can battle with any team in this league.”
Highland League results from Wednesday: Brechin City 2, Inverurie Locos 0; Buckie Thistle 1, Fraserburgh 3; Clachnacuddin 0, Nairn County 2; Deveronvale 2, Huntly 2; Formartine United 1, Turriff United 2; Forres Mechanics 1, Brora Rangers 4; Keith 1, Banks O’ Dee 2; Lossiemouth 3, Rothes 2; Wick Academy 2, Strathspey Thistle 1.
Fixtures for Saturday, August 10: Banks O’ Dee v Nairn County; Brora Rangers v Formartine United; Fraserburgh v Brechin City; Huntly v Buckie Thistle; Inverurie Locos v Clachnacuddin; Rothes v Keith; Strathspey Thistle v Forres Mechanics; Turriff United v Lossiemouth; Wick Academy v Deveronvale (all 3pm).
