Wick Academy turn attention to climbing up Highland League table after Scottish Cup exit
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Gary Manson says Wick Academy’s full attention will now be on finishing as high up the Highland League table as possible – starting with their trip to Huntly tomorrow.
Last weekend saw the Scorries exit the Scottish Cup in what was a deceptively one-sided scoreline in Falkirk’s favour.
That was the last involvement Wick will have with cup competitions this season, having already been knocked out of the Highland League Cup, so the league table will now come to the fore once again.
While the dynamic of the division may have changed since Fort William’s relegation, Manson’s targets remain the same. He just wants to see improvements year on year, and that charge will be kick-started at Christie Park this weekend.
“It’s different now, because with all due respect to Fort William more often than not every team in the league had a free six points,” Manson reasoned.
“In recent years, you had two matches against Fort William and you were going to get six points unless you had a bit of a disaster. That’s gone now.
“Banks O’Dee have come in and they’re a great deal better than Fort William, so you’re starting six points down.
“It’s all well and good saying you’re going to beat your points tally from last year, but it’s more difficult. That’s always the aim though.
“I’m not one for setting a points tally and saying ‘we want to get 45 points or 55 points’, we just want to progress. We got further in the Scottish Cup than we have in the last few years, which is good, now we need to see progression in the league.
“If we can finish with more points and in a higher position than we did last year, that’s our aim, and that will always be the case.
“Year on year you want to see progression in the league, and that means getting more points on the board, so that’s our focus now.”
Ross Allan will be suspended for the trip to Aberdeenshire, but Jack Ryan should be fit to play.
He came off against Falkirk last week with a tight calf, but Manson made the change as a precaution rather than because of any serious issue with the scoreline starting to stretch out of reach.
With Huntly immediately behind Wick in the Highland League table, too, Manson will want everyone he can possibly have available to have the best chance of taking three points back to Harmsworth Park.
“You obviously look at the league table all the time, you keep an eye on it throughout the season, but it’s possibly not a true reflection right now,” Manson added.
“Some teams have played four more games than us, so once the matches played levels out then it will be a truer reflection.
“It’s something we always keep an eye on, and especially now the Scottish Cup has gone, the league will take our full attention. It will be all hands on deck, and all of our efforts will go into trying to climb the table and putting points on the board.”
