Poor start but Scorries bag three points
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‘IT’S probably the poorest we’ve played all season." That’s the view of Wick Academy manager Davie Kirkwood despite his team taking three points against Fort William on Saturday.
The negative vibes over the 1-3 victory at Claggan Park come just after two weeks of praising the talent on offer at the club.
Kirkwood said although he is pleased to come home with a win, his players were lacking their usual fluency of passing and fine touch at the start of the game.
"As I’ve said before we’ve actually played better in worse games," said the manager.
"It’s probably a mentality thing, you don’t want to come away from Fort William with egg on your face.
"It happens to every club – it even happens to Manchester United playing a lower league club – you don’t want that embarrassment as it can set into a rot."
Kirkwood said as the game progressed so did his players, but he expected a stronger kick-off. "As the game went on we got stronger and we started believing," he said. "I just wanted that from the start of the game."
Fort William have often posed a problem for the Scorries in recent years.
Despite succeeding against top-flight teams, the lower league often provides a stumbling block, said Kirkwood.
That will have to change – starting right now, he said.
"We don’t have to lift ourselves for the big games, but we need to learn to do it against the teams in the league that we are expected to beat. These games should be out of sight," he said. "That’s something we need to instil for every single game."
The Academy manager said it is a matter of belief. "It’s just a matter of believing that we are a good side," he said. "It doesn’t matter if we are playing Fort William, Deveronvale or Buckie, you treat every game exactly the same. You want to win it and you want to win it by doing things you know you are good at."
He added: "I think there’s a fair gap between Forres and Cove and the rest of the league but I’m pretty sure we’ll have a hand in who wins the title."
With only four away games but 10 home games left on the calendar this could be the turning point that the Scorries need to get a good finish to the season.
"We’re hoping to exploit all our home games and obviously our away games," said Kirkwood. "If the weather holds and we can get a good run at it you never know."
Meanwhile Fort William manager Danny Conlon explained that his team struggled to keep the visitors under control, despite the concerns from Kirkwood about the level of football being played by Wick. "We were under a wee bit of pressure from the start, but losing two goals in the first 20 minutes was a big blow," said Conlon. "We were under the cosh, and we didn’t defend particularly well for either goal."
The second half made a marked difference for Fort when they attempted a comeback.
"For the first 30 minutes of the second period, though, we were by far the better side, we got a superb goal and were unfortunate not to get another," said Conlon.
"We continued that good spell until the goalscorer, Darren Duncan, was forced off with injury.
"We had to make positional changes which affected the shape of the team and let Wick into the game a bit more."
The Fort manager added: "When they got their third it killed the game, and it was a great strike from Sam Mackay."
Conlon said he had "no complaints" about the outcome and added that if Wick added another couple of players they could be a "top-six to top-eight side".
The Scorries take on Huntly this weekend at Harmsworth Park.
