We’ve shown we can perform against the best, says Sinclair
Brandon Sinclair knows Wick Academy will be up against tough opponents when Brechin City visit Harmsworth Park on Saturday – but he says the Scorries have already shown this season that they can perform well against the top teams in the Highland League.
Academy beat Fraserburgh 2-0 on the opening day and earned a share of the points away to champions Buckie Thistle last weekend. Brechin, last season’s runners-up, are second in the table with 13 points from five games, while Wick are 10th after two wins and two defeats prior to that 2-2 draw at Victoria Park.
Sinclair scored his first Academy goal in midweek in a 4-0 victory over Invergordon in the first round of the North of Scotland Cup.
The 24-year-old right-back said: “It’s always a tough one against Brechin but I think we’ve shown against some top teams already this season that we are more than capable of putting a performance in.
“It doesn’t always need to be pretty. Sometimes you sit in and dig deep.”
Invergordon, the North Caledonian League champions, had to play almost the entire 90 minutes with 10 men at Harmsworth Park on Wednesday night.
With five minutes gone, Blair Morrison was shown the red card for a last-man foul on Kyle Henderson on the edge of the box. Henderson’s stunning late free kick had earned Wick their point at Buckie on Saturday but this time his effort came off a post.
Henderson wasn’t to be denied, though. Five minutes later he opened the scoring after taking a through ball from Ryan Campbell and calmly rolling it past keeper Ryan Slaney.
Sinclair doubled the lead on 38 minutes with a low shot from the right edge of the penalty area into the opposite corner.
The third arrived after 59 minutes when Gary Pullen’s cross from the left was knocked in by a defender.
Gordon MacNab completed the scoring in stoppage time, sliding the ball into the net after a pass from substitute Alan Hughes.
Pullen and substitute George Ewing both saw curling shots come off an upright, one in each half.
The Scorries are away to Brora Rangers in the next round, on September 4.
Sinclair said: “We probably didn’t play quite to our standards. I felt we could have played a lot better.
“We were just trying to rush things at times when we could have taken the sting out of the game and knocked it around.
“I felt we did that in the second half – we came out and played into the space a little bit more.”
Sinclair joined Academy for a second time in 2020 after returning from a scholarship at Salem University in West Virginia.
“I was over in America for two-and-a-bit years,” he said. “It got cut short when Covid came into things and that’s when I came home.”
Manager Gary Manson said: “I had to have a word with them at half-time. It is difficult adjusting to playing against 10 men, but in the first half I didn’t think we kept the ball well enough.
“Against 10 men, especially when we got our noses in front early in the first half, just keep the ball... You’re patient, you move them from side to side, you tire them out, but we weren’t doing that at all in the first half.
“We were rushing things and I wasn’t happy at all with us in possession. I spoke to them at half-time, told them exactly what we wanted in the second half, and they carried it out to a T.
“That’s exactly how you play against 10 men. You just keep the ball, you’re patient, you wait for your opportunities to go forward. It’s easier when you're 2-0 up at half-time but that was exactly what I wanted to see in the second half.
“I’m definitely happy with the score and the clean sheet and progressing into the next round. But if you’re greedy, it could have been seven or eight maybe.”
Looking ahead to the Brora tie, Manson said: “If you’re wanting to progress far in cup competitions you’re going to have to play against a good team sooner or later. It’ll be a tough test, that one.”
Brechin did the double over Academy last season, winning 3-1 at Glebe Park and 2-1 in Wick.
“Up here we fancy our chances against anyone,” Manson said. “It doesn’t matter who it is who comes up, we’ll have a good go. But obviously it’ll be a tough game.
“They’ve started the season really well so it’ll be a completely different test than tonight was. Tonight was about keeping the ball and dominating possession. It’ll be the exact opposite on Saturday.
“We’ll probably need to have a similar performance to what we did away to Buckie when we had to sit in, soak up a bit of pressure and hit them on the counter.
“I’ve said to the boys numerous times, there’s more than one way to win a game of football, so we’ll give it our best shot.”
Results – North of Scotland Cup, first round: Brora Rangers 3, Ross County 2; Clachnacuddin 3, Strathspey Thistle 2; Forres Mechanics 8, Rothes 0; Golspie Sutherland 0, Inverness Athletic 2; Halkirk United 0, St Duthus 0 (Halkirk United won 7-6 on penalties); Invergordon 0, Wick Academy 4 (at Wick); Nairn County 4, Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1.
Second-round draw: Brora Rangers v Wick Academy; Inverness Athletic v Halkirk United; Forres Mechanics v Lossiemouth; Nairn County v Clachnacuddin (ties to be played on Wednesday, September 4).
Highland League fixtures for Saturday, August 24: Brora Rangers v Keith; Deveronvale v Buckie Thistle; Forres Mechanics v Lossiemouth; Fraserburgh v Banks O’ Dee; Huntly v Clachnacuddin; Rothes v Inverurie Locos; Strathspey Thistle v Formartine United; Turriff United v Nairn County; Wick Academy v Brechin City (all 3pm).