Staxigoe manager hails best performance of the season after victory over Wick Groats
Manager Colin Sinclair described Staxigoe United's 2-1 victory over Wick Groats as by far the best performance of the season by his team.
It was the closest Staxigoe have had to a full-strength squad this year, and Sinclair says the challenge now is to maintain that standard.
Groats had won 4-0 when the teams met in Caithness AFA Division One during the second week of the campaign but the tables were turned on Tuesday night.
"We always have at least one good performance against them," Sinclair said. "From the word go we just seemed to be on top of things. I don't think Wick Groats were up to what their usual standard is.
"They've had a lot of games, a lot of tough games too, and I don't know if that took its toll on them a wee bit.
"But I can't take anything away from the way we played, from start to finish. We hit the crossbar twice too, so on another day we maybe could have had a couple more goals.
"We certainly took full advantage to punish them as much as we could when the chances came along. From the first minute to the 90th minute it was by far our best performance of the season.
"Hopefully we can keep going with that now. We have one or two boys coming back now so there's competition for places too which is a good problem to have."
All the scoring came in the first half at the Upper Bignold.
Marc Coghill's cross was head-flicked in by Morgan Kennedy for Staxigoe's opener. Michael Steven equalised with a free kick but Martin Banks restored Staxigoe's lead with a looping header from a cross by Dave Manson.
"These are goals that you don't see Wick Groats conceding very often," Sinclair noted. "Morgan Kennedy and Martin Banks are barely six feet between the two of them!"
It was the first defeat of the campaign for Wick Groats and it came three days after they had won the Colin Macleod Memorial Cup, beating Wick Thistle 1-0 in the final in Castletown.
"I have no complaints with the result," manager Kevin Anderson said. "Staxigoe usually always give us a tough game and that's exactly what it was.
"We didn't get going at all, to be honest. Our levels were not where they needed to be.
"But it's one game – we can't be too downbeat. We've had a reasonably good start to the season, we've won the first cup of the season, but we know if we want to add to that we need to be so much better, and am sure we will be.
"As I've said previously, teams are a lot closer matched this year and there will be points dropped by everyone. I think you can see that from the results so far.
"We have lots of positives to take into the second half of the season, though. All teams have setbacks, the key is how we bounce back from these setbacks."
Aaron Wilson scored twice as High Ormlie Hotspur moved up to third in Division One with a 4-1 win at John O'Groats.
James Mackintosh and Mark Munro got the others for Hotspur, with John O'Groats' goal coming from Kevin Swanson.
Results – Colin Macleod Memorial Cup final: Wick Groats 1, Wick Thistle 0 (in Castletown).
Caithness AFA Division One: John O'Groats 1, High Ormlie Hotspur 4; Pentland United 4, Castletown 2; Wick Groats 1, Staxigoe United 2.
Fixtures – Wednesday, June 14 – Caithness AFA Division Two: Keiss v Watten; Lybster v Top Joe's; Swifts v Thurso Pentland (all 7.30pm).
Saturday, June 17 – Archer Shield, Orkney v Caithness.
Sunday, June 18 – SWF Highlands and Islands League: Clachnacuddin Women v Caithness Ladies.
Monday, June 19 – Division Two: Keiss v Top Joe's; Thurso Pentland v Lybster; Watten v Swifts (all 7.30pm).
Wednesday, June 21 – Eain Mackintosh Cup, quarter-finals: Acks v Keiss; High Ormlie Hotspur v Castletown; Wick Groats v Staxigoe United; Wick Thistle v Pentland United (all 7.15pm).