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Scorries boss pleads: "Can anyone give us a game?"


By Matt Leslie

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Wick Academy boss, Tom McKenna (left), has been trying to find a team to play his Scorries side in a pre-season friendly. Picture: Mel Roger
Wick Academy boss, Tom McKenna (left), has been trying to find a team to play his Scorries side in a pre-season friendly. Picture: Mel Roger

Scorries boss Tom McKenna has put out a plea on social media asking if anyone wants to give Academy a game.

The new season is only six weeks away but organising a pre-season has left McKenna banging his head against a brick wall as every possible avenue leads up to a dead end.

Team after team after team have been contacted asking if they can come up to Wick and face the Scorries in a pre-season friendly but as yet, there have been no takers.

Match sharpness is developed ahead of a Highland League season and McKenna cited having a number of friendlies beforehand as having a positive effect to the club doing well in the last campaign.

Development squads from Ross County and Hibs visited Harmsworth Park a year ago with Orkney also sending a team across the Pentland Firth.

But with no one pencilled in as yet this summer, McKenna took to popular social media site Twitter to make his plea.

He said: "To tell you the truth, I'm struggling to get anything sorted for a home pre-season friendly.

"Quite simply, no one is prepared to come up all the way up here so we are victims of our own geography here.

"I have made calls to Inverness Caley Thistle, Ross County and Orkney but neither side has got back to me yet.

"Same with Shetland as well – although they're currently involved in a tournament in Wales right now and getting players together in the middle of their own FA's league season could be tricky for them.

"One side that did offer to send up a team was St Johnstone who were willing match up their development squad against us.

"Unfortunately, they said the only time they could spare them would be August which would be little use to us as the Highland League season will be underway by then.

We are victims of our own geography here

"I've tried everyone. I've a friend at Rangers but their operations manager said their development squad was fully booked for the pre-season.

"We have touched base with Elgin asking if their reserves would be available and they said they would get back to me. I'll be sending them a text to see what the latest is.

"When Aberdeen's development side was here for Richard Macadie's testimonial at the end of last season, it was mentioned if they would be interested in coming back up for pre-season.

"We got the impression that this would be unlikely. I understand why from their point of view as the have Cove, Formartine, Peterhead, Turriff, Deveronvale, Lossiemouth, Inverurie Locos etc on their own doorstep with very little travel time."

Academy do have at least one pre-season fixture in their diary – but not at Harmsworth Park.

McKenna added: "We did manage to arrange one game. We travel to Showfield Park to take on junior side Nairn St Ninian who play in the North Super League on July 6."


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