Scorries hope spirit of Buckie hits the spot
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
WICK Academy will hope to invoke the “spirit of Buckie” tomorrow in order to kick-start their season.
The Scorries have got off to an indifferent start that has resulted in them lying in the middle reaches of the Highland League table.
Not bad, but not exactly great either given how well pre-season went as poor results on their own Harmsworth Park turf have contributed to them not being in a higher position.
Last season, Academy were going through a torrid spell not long after Christmas. However, a trip to Buckie saw their fortunes pick up.
Goals from Craig Gunn, Alan Hughes and the now-departed Steven Anderson gave Wick a 3-1 win and set them off on a run that saw them lose only one game in 16.
Scorries boss Tom McKenna is not one for omens but admitted the win over the then league champions last season might be mentioned before kick-off.
He said: “We won’t be going overboard on what happened but I’ll mention it to those who were here last season to remind them what happened and what it led to.
“Last season, I had just taken over from Gordon Connelly and we had suffered a bad home defeat to Nairn in the cup.
“Then out of the blue we go to Buckie and get a great result which proved to be the right tonic for us going into the second half of last season.
“Winning at Buckie triggered off a good run of form and we went through a spell where we went from a side that teams were finding it easy to score against to one that was very difficult to beat.
“If we can do the same again on Saturday then we’ll take that. It will just be coincidence that Buckie are the team facing us.
“We’ve had some great support away from home when we go to the Aberdeenshire clubs. Maybe it’s because those fans live there, I don’t know.
“But they made themselves very vocal when we won at both Fraserburgh and Formartine and we look forward to seeing and hearing them again at Buckie.”
Despite last weekend’s 3-1 home defeat to Rothes, McKenna insists that morale is still good in the Academy camp.
He added: “Training was very upbeat. We trained on the pitch at Harmsworth and the boys were looking good.
“They worked hard and looked as if they were enjoying themselves. They certainly didn’t give the impression of a team brooding on a defeat. We’re all very positive at the club, which makes it puzzling as to why we have been so inconsistent this season.
“If we were a full-time club playing in the higher reaches of Scottish football then we’d probably have a sports psychologist sent up here.
“However, we’re a semi-professional side with players and coaches all having to juggle training and matchdays with family and work commitments so we have to do the best we can with what we’ve got.”
