We showed we can defend, says Wick Academy boss after late ‘sucker punch’ at Brora
Gary Manson insisted he didn’t learn anything new about his Wick Academy squad after they gave a disciplined display against Brora Rangers in the quarter-finals of the North of Scotland Cup only to concede a scrappy goal in stoppage time.
Colin Williamson netted from close range after a corner to give the Cattachs a 1-0 victory in Wednesday night’s derby at Dudgeon Park, with the Scorries left to reflect on missed chances and a rejected penalty claim that Manson described as “an absolute stonewaller”.
Academy went into the cup tie after a difficult spell in which they conceded 17 goals in three Highland League matches over eight days.
The manager said: “I didn’t learn anything new. You just have to look at our games against Fraserburgh and Buckie this season.
“We can defend, there’s no doubt about it. If the boys put their mind to it and everybody in the team concentrates for the whole 90 minutes then we can keep a clean sheet against Fraserburgh, we can go to Buckie and restrict them to about three chances, and it was the same again at Brora.
“I know it’s in there. It’s getting it out on a consistent basis so that we can stop conceding so many goals. The challenge for the boys now is to bring what they brought on Wednesday night into every single game.
“I know it’s difficult. You can get up for a cup quarter-final against your local rivals perhaps a little bit easier than for run-of-the-mill league games.
“But if you want to compete in the right areas of the league then you have to bring that level of performance and defensive discipline in every single game. That’s the challenge going forward.”
The tie looked to be heading for penalties – in keeping with the other three quarter-finals – until the decisive moment deep in injury time.
Manson had brought Richard Macadie off the bench towards the end of the 90 minutes with a shoot-out looking inevitable.
“I don’t know where they got six minutes of injury time from,” Manson said. “We just got hit by a sucker punch. It was the worst goal you’ll ever see in your life.
“A corner came in and Graeme [Williamson] lost the ball in the floodlights and it just landed at their player’s feet and he tapped it in from a yard.
“You’d hold your hands up if it was a well-worked goal or a goal from 30 yards or something, but the manner of the goal just compounded the misery.”
There were echoes of the last Highland League game between the sides, played at King George V Park in Golspie in April, when Colin Williamson scored the only goal from close range in the second half – a header on that occasion.
Manson was adamant that Academy should have had a penalty for a challenge on Owen Harrold just before half-time.
“The referee said after the game that their defender got a touch on the ball before he clattered Owen but I’ve watched it back on the video and there is absolutely no touch at all,” Manson said.
“He got it wrong – there was quite clearly no touch on the ball.
“That changes the game. They would have had to come out and chase it even more and we were hitting them on the counter quite regularly. Those are the breaks you get, I’m afraid.”
Assessing the match as a whole, the manager said: “Obviously it was a tough game but we were reasonably comfortable in it. We had a game plan and we sat in.
“Yes, they dominated possession, but they weren’t doing anything with it, they weren’t getting near our goal.
“I don’t know how many saves Graeme had to make but you could count them on one hand. We had three golden opportunities, one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and failed to score with each.”
Results – North of Scotland Cup, quarter-finals: Brora Rangers 1, Wick Academy 0; Forres Mechanics 1, Lossiemouth 1 (Lossie won 3-1 on penalties); Inverness Athletic 3, Halkirk United 3 (Inverness Athletic won 5-4 on penalties); Nairn County 2, Clachnacuddin 2 (Clach won 4-3 on penalties). Highland League: Rothes 0, Fraserburgh 7.
Fixtures – Friday, September 6 – Highland League: Banks O’ Dee v Deveronvale (7.30pm).
Saturday, September 7 – Highland League: Brechin City v Strathspey Thistle; Clachnacuddin v Buckie Thistle; Fraserburgh v Brora Rangers; Inverurie Locos v Forres Mechanics; Keith v Lossiemouth; Nairn County v Formartine United; Rothes v Wick Academy; Turriff United v Huntly (all 3pm).
