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Poor defending costs Scorries, admits Hughes


By Matt Leslie

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Wick's Sam Mackay points the finger at Brora's Kyle MacLeod but Academy were to blame for their own downfall following their 6-0 hiding at the hands of their derby rivals. Picture: Mel Roger
Wick's Sam Mackay points the finger at Brora's Kyle MacLeod but Academy were to blame for their own downfall following their 6-0 hiding at the hands of their derby rivals. Picture: Mel Roger

Assistant boss Richard Hughes was left ruing a number of defensive errors that led to Academy crashing out of the North of Scotland Cup.

Losing to your derby rivals is rarely nice but the Scorries did themselves no favours with their lame attempt to put up a rearguard action during their 6-0 hammering at Dudgeon Park.

Calamity after calamity followed as Academy continually shot themselves in the foot leaving Brora to cash in.

Hughes said: "This defeat hurts a lot – especially how we conceded the goals, to be honest.

"The first one was a deflection but I thought we were still in it in the first half. Then we gave away a silly free kick and they get a second just before half-time.

"I'm not going to take anything away from the lad as it was a great free kick, but it did feel like a punch in the gut because we were still in this going into the interval.

"We were still in the game at 2-0 but that's what Brora do to you – they grind you down. But the manner in which we lost the goals is disappointing.

"Hopefully we can get it sorted over the next few games.

"There were a lot of positives in that first half but that second goal was the killer. Yes, Brora controlled the second half, but our defending inside our own six-yard box was not good.

"We also gave away the ball too easily and were punished for it. We'll just have to soldier on and try and bounce back from this."

That's what Brora do to you – they grind you down.

Brora manager Steven Mackay was delighted his men were able to dictate the game at will.

"We controlled the game with the lion's share of the possession," he said. "I thought the boys in the first half controlled the game but without creating as many chances as I would have liked.

"Going in at half-time 2-0 up, though, was the least we deserved. A cracking free kick from Bjorn [Wagenaar] – he has that in his locker as he is technically astute – changed the dynamic of the game.

"We said to them at the interval to go and get the third goal to kill the game off so that we could enjoy the rest of it.

"That's what the boys did – we were pretty ruthless in that second half which was good to see.

"It shows you what a good job the lads did in controlling the game that it took until the last minute for Joe [Malin] to be called upon to make a save – it was a wonderful save too."


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