Six of the best from Academy
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Turriff United...........................2
Scorers: Wick – Mackay (15, 51) Macadie (18), Geruzel (21, 29) Bayne (66) Turriff – Gray (20) Mackay og (60).
DESPITE it being billed as a potential banana skin in Wick Academy’s quest for their first Highland League title, Barry Wilson’s men passed the test with flying colours as they thrashed Turriff United on Saturday.
The Aberdeenshire club put in as good a first half performance as any team to visit Harmsworth Park this season, but as their heads went down knowing that the mountain was too steep to climb, the Scorries could easily have scored double figures.
The same starting 11 that saw off Brora Rangers 3-0 in the far north derby the previous weekend lined up at kick-off, with James Pickles missing from the squad due to flu, while Shaun Sinclair and Gary Weir were on holiday in New York and Australia respectively.
Knowing that three points could have taken them to top spot, Academy attacked straight from the kick-off.
Within eight minutes United goalkeeper Stephen Coutts was forced into a great double save when he first blocked a Davie Allan shot and then palmed away Stevie Cunningham’s follow-up.
Turriff were forced into a change when defender Cammy Bowden picked up an injury and was replaced by Robbie Allan after only 10 minutes. However, they could have taken the lead four minutes later when Christopher Herd found himself free of the home defence and fired a powerful shot that Michael Gray did well to push away for a corner.
Wick took the lead from a counter-attack on 15 minutes when Richard Macadie drove up the right and crossed to the back post where Sam Mackay beat the last defender to head home.
Three minutes later, the hosts doubled their lead when Macadie beat the offside trap to get onto the end of a Cunningham cross and calmly slot the ball past Coutts.
Turriff pulled one back two minutes later when former Deveronvale star Mike McKenzie sent a defence-splitting pass through to Nicky Gray who beat the offside trap to stroke the ball past Gray.
But Polish powerhouse Lukasz Geruzel restored the two-goal lead when he controlled a Macadie cross on his chest, held off his marker and unleashed a thunderbolt into the roof of the net from 10 yards.
On the half hour, Geruzel made it 4-1 when he tapped home the easiest of finishes from six yards after Cunningham had danced down the right wing to send in a cross that the visitors were unable to deal with.
Turriff played well in the first half and could have gone into the interval only two goals behind when they won a free-kick on the edge of the box. Gary Harris lifted the ball over the wall and beat Gray, but it clattered off the right hand post to the relief of the goalkeeper.
Six minutes after the break, Mackay made it five for Academy with one of the goals of the season after Macadie sent another through ball for the captain to chip the goalkeeper from 25 yards out.
Mackay was also to make a claim to scoring the own goal of the season on the hour when he unleashed a thunderous 40-yard back pass that caught an unaware Gray off guard. The keeper scrambled in vain to lift his legs high enough to divert the ball away from the net.
But the win was never in doubt for Academy and new signing Graham Bayne marked his debut with a goal when he shot home from inside the box after getting on the end of a Macadie corner to round off another impressive performance for Wick.
Wick: Gray, M. Steven, Manson, Farquhar, G. Steven, Shearer (Bayne 59), Mackay, Cunningham, Geruzel (McKiddie 78), Macadie (R. Allan 73), D. Allan.
Subs not used: More and Ross.
Turriff: Coutts, Chalmers, Bowden (Allan 10), Anderson, Simpson, Davidson, McAllister, Herd, Harris, McKenzie (Gauld 62), Gray (Henderson 71).
Subs not used: Fraser, Young.
Referee: Billy Baxter.
