Thistle hit goal trail as Sutherland recovers
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WICK Thistle boss Gordy McDonald has paid tribute to his players for the way they have bounced back after club legend Tommy Sutherland’s heart attack.
Following a week-long stay at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, Tommy is now back home in Wick and is said to be in good spirits.
He has even sent a few messages of encouragement to the team and they have responded in kind with a whopping 18 goals in their last two games.
Thumping wins against fellow promotion chasers FC Retro (10-0) and Division Two strugglers Top Joes (8-0) have pulled Thistle back into the promotion race.
McDonald says that the goal rush has been a long time in coming and hopes it can continue.
He said: “Tommy has recovered and is back home recuperating. He has sent a few messages to the boys and they have responded.
“We have been creating a large number of chances per game all season and it has been frustrating that, while we’ve got the wins, we’ve at times not made it easier for ourselves by scoring more goals.
“These past two games, we feel, have been coming. We always felt that once we sharpened up in front of goal, somebody would be getting a doing.
“Admittedly we were very surprised with the scoreline against Retro. They didn’t have their regular goalie for that one but the lad who played had little chance with seven of the 10 we put past him.
“And we did the same against Top Joes. Every time we touched the ball it seemed to fly into the net.
“We have another game against Retro coming up so I’d imagine they will be determined to show us that last time was a one-off.”
Meanwhile, in Division One, Wick Groats pulled off a superb comeback at Thurso Acks to win 3-2.
Kuba Koziol and Louis Webster had given Acks a 2-0 lead before Groats hit back with strikes from Sandy Sutherland, Grant MacNab and Alan Hughes.
The leaders Pentland United saw off John O’Groats 3-1 at Ham Park. United’s goals came from Murray MacIntosh, Innes MacKintosh and a Gary Manson penalty, while Jimmy Budge got the visitors’ consolation.
Staxigoe United picked up from where they left off from their Colin Macleod Memorial Cup triumph as they returned to winning ways in the league with a 3-0 victory over Thurso Swifts. Darren Sheppard, Martin Banks and Robbie Murray were on target.
Lybster and Halkirk fought out a 3-3 draw at Cow Park.
Billy Cairns (2) and Andrew Sutherland netted for Lybster, while the visitors replied with strikes from Lee Mackay (2) and Mathew Mackay.
