Super Groats turn on second-half style to bag the cup
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An inspired second half display saw Wick Groats head back down the A99 with the Colin Macleod Memorial Cup.
Having gone in at half-time level at 2-2 against Pentland United, Groats came out all guns blazing as they left their rivals trailing in their wake with three goals to seal a 5-2 victory.
A hat-trick from Sandy Sutherland along with strikes from James Mackay and Liam Healy did the damage to Pentland who themselves had netted via Andy Mackay and Luke Manson.
Although the scoreline on first glance suggests a convincing victory, early on, it looked like this would be a stroll in the park for United who had Groats on the backfoot from the off.
Andy Mackay gave Pentland an early lead but the Dunnet side forgot the vital lesson of kicking your opponent when he is down and let Groats bag two goals.
Although United would level, Groats seemed to be able to move up the gears at will and made Pentland pay for not cashing in on their earlier dominance.
Groats boss Kevin Anderson said: "Lets just say that after the first fifteen minutes, I couldn't wait for half-time to come.
"We made a sluggish start and Pentland had us penned in as they put us under the cosh a wee bit.
"If you told me after fifteen minutes that we would win this 5-2, I'd have laughed at you because we had made a very slow start.
"They got the opening goal which they deserved and for some strange reason that gave us a kickstart.
"We seemed to wake up after that and got ourselves back in it with two goals.
"Although they equalised to make it 2-2, we did finish the half strongly and it was definitely 'game on' come the interval."
Cup finals the length and breadth of the country have been decided by a manager's inspiring words at half-time – not in this instance insists Kevin.
He added: "I didn't have to say much apart from telling them to push up more and to keep their composure.
"They've been in this situation so many times before so they knew exactly what was required of them for the second half.
"They came out of the traps after half-time and went right at Pentland to score three more goals.
"Pentland can point to defensive errors at set-pieces but there were errors from us for their two. You can always pick the bones out of how a goal was scored – as long as you're the one scoring them, you're not bothered how they go in."
Having beaten Pentland earlier in the league and now this result, the duo meet again next month in the Eain Mackintosh Cup final.
Anderson though is not taking anything for granted.
He said: "We've done well against them recently but I'm not silly enough to say we now hold an 'Indian Sign' over them.
"They put us out of the Highland Amateur Cup last year and won one of the two league fixtures so we know fine well that they are capable of beating us and we must always be at our best to try and avoid that."
