Shield win for Wick Groats overshadowed by Bremner injury
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Wick Groats secured their first silverware of the 2022 campaign at the weekend – but the achievement was overshadowed by a leg-break suffered by their striker Liam Bremner.
The 31-year-old was involved in a collision with Castletown goalkeeper Gordon Clark in the closing stages of Saturday's David Allan Shield final in Thurso.
An ambulance was called and Bremner was admitted to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness that night. He was found to have a displaced tibia and fibula and he underwent surgery on Sunday.
Groats were 3-2 up at the time of the incident and that was how the game finished.
The club's manager Kevin Anderson said: "It's a cup final, you're there to win the trophy, that's obviously what's in your head. But when you're playing the last three minutes watching the ambulance pull away from the park with one of your players in it, it doesn't really matter at that moment in time who is going to win the cup.
"He came on with 10 or 15 minutes to go. He was running through and was about to toe-poke the ball past the goalkeeper. The goalkeeper came out to challenge for the ball.
"It was a coming together – it was one of those unfortunate things that happen on a football park. Nobody is to blame but unfortunately Liam has come away with a bad one.
"It was hard to get the guys' mindsets on the last three minutes. I know the game needed to be played, but it was hard.
"We had to see the game out for Liam, if nothing else. The celebrations were certainly a bit subdued, that's for sure."
Bremner was top scorer in the North Caledonian League in 2021/22 while playing for Golspie Sutherland and was set to be a key player for Wick Academy in the Highland League this term.
"Thankfully, after 13 or 14 years involved, I think that's probably only the third time an ambulance has been at a game I've been involved in and that's twice in a week," Anderson added.
Acks' player/co-manager Craig Trueman was taken to hospital after suffering a serious knee injury which led to the abandonment of their Caithness AFA Division One fixture against Groats at the Dammies last Tuesday.
Anderson said: "I touched base with Craig the next day.
"It's not what you want to see. It puts things in perspective when you see things like that happening."
Bremner had been building up his fitness following a groin injury. He came off the bench in Academy's 1-0 home win against Keith on July 30.
"I'm sure Liam will make a full recovery," Anderson said. "He'll bounce back from it. He has always been a super-fit guy.
"He was working hard to try and get back to a level where he could try Highland League. We were just giving him 20 to 30 minutes at the end of games just to build him up.
"It's a setback for him but I'm sure he'll be back."
Graham MacNab opened the scoring for Groats from the penalty spot and his second of the afternoon proved to be the winner. Alan Mathieson was also on target for the holders, with Castletown's goals coming from Connor Macleod and Michael Smith.
In a social media post after the David Allan Shield final, Castletown stated: "Well done to Wick Groats and wish Liam Bremner all the best and a speedy recovery after his injury today."
It was a second final in just over a week for the Caithness AFA Division Two champions following their Steven Cup triumph against Keiss.
Anderson said: "Castletown put a couple of first division teams out to get to the final. We played them in the Eain Mackintosh Cup [semi-finals]. It was a tough game – we won 2-1.
"Their guys battled really hard. They're an organised, disciplined, hard-working team, full of energy. They were always going to make it tough for us.
"I felt we weren't clinical enough, but take nothing away from Castletown's performance – they played very well.
"Michael Smith was giving us lots of problems and Danny Mackay has made them a tougher team to break down.
"We fell short in the Eain Mackintosh final and we went out of the Colin Macleod Memorial Cup [in the semi-finals] so it was good to get one in the bag. It's two games now for the league, so we'll see how they go."
