Wick Academy drop to 14th as Greig double sets Nairn on their way
Wick Academy manager Gary Manson reckoned Saturday’s Highland League encounter at Nairn was “in the balance” until Andrew Greig took matters into his own hands.
The County winger broke the deadlock after 63 minutes at Station Park after finding space on the left, and he added a second on 80 minutes – shortly after Wick’s Kyle Henderson had seen a shot shave a post.
Matthew Wright turned in a cross in stoppage time to wrap up a 3-0 victory for Nairn as the Scorries dropped one place to 14th in the table.
“That’s what Andrew Greig has done for years,” Manson said. “He’s an ex-Highland League player of the year, he has won Highland League titles, he’s done that to many teams over the years, so it was no surprise that their breakthrough came from him.
“They probably shaded it over the piece, but the game was in the balance until they scored. It just wasn’t to be.
“In the first half nothing really happened. We didn’t really create much and they didn’t create an awful lot either – a few crosses into the box, but we managed to deal with that.
“We matched them okay in the first half. In the second half they probably came out slightly stronger and we weren’t really causing them an awful lot of problems.
“I was slightly disappointed with the manner of the goals, but sometimes good players can do that to you.
“It’s fine margins that you’re dealing with when games are fifty-fifty. It was finely balanced until 63 minutes and could have gone either way.”
It means Academy have gone two games without scoring, having lost 1-0 to Keith in their last home match.
“It was more the lack of chances we created that frustrated me,” Manson admitted. “More often than not we’ve created a good few chances in games this season and given ourselves an opportunity to score some goals, but off the top of my head I can only think of maybe three chances we created on Saturday.
“I’ve said it for a few years now, the teams at the bottom of the league on their day are more than capable of taking points off any other team in the league – it’s just the consistency levels that are lacking.
“Just look at this season ourselves. We beat Fraserburgh 2-0, we comfortably beat Lossiemouth and drew with Buckie, and we comfortably beat Rothes.
“On the flip side of that we got beaten by Keith 1-0 and got beaten by Deveronvale 1-0. It’s just the consistency levels that separate the teams in the top half of the table and the teams in the bottom half.
“We’re no different. We’re right involved in that – Keith are the same, Lossie are the same, Turriff are the same – we can all take points off the top teams on our day.”
Meanwhile, midfielder Ross Gunn will be out of contention for a spell as he is travelling to Australia.
Managerless Rothes climbed off the bottom of the Highland League with a 3-2 victory over Turriff United at Mackessack Park.
All the goals came in the first 45 minutes, with Jamie Young and Shane Harkness putting the Speysiders 2-0 up inside 15 minutes.
Turriff hit back to level through Murray Cormack and Reece McKeown but Taylor Thain’s first Rothes goal proved to be the winner on the stroke of half-time.
The result took the Speysiders back above Strathspey Thistle on a day when the Grantown side earned a creditable 2-2 draw at home to Fraserburgh.
Lossiemouth are now just two points off the bottom despite leading hosts Buckie Thistle for three-quarters of their match, eventually going down 2-1.
Keith came from behind to beat Deveronvale 3-1 at Kynoch Park and that allowed the Maroons to go above Wick Academy into 13th place.
Brechin City proved too strong for Formartine United as the league leaders ran out 3-1 winners at Glebe Park.
Brora Rangers bolstered their title hopes with a 2-0 away victory over Banks O’ Dee. Andy Macrae and Shane Sutherland got the goals.
Clachnacuddin scored three times in the last 10 minutes as they beat Forres Mechanics 4-2 at Grant Street Park.
Huntly surrendered a 2-0 advantage at Inverurie before Sam Robertson struck the winner for the Black-and-Golds from the penalty spot.
Highland League results: Banks O’ Dee 0, Brora Rangers 2; Brechin City 3, Formartine United 1; Buckie Thistle 2, Lossiemouth 1; Clachnacuddin 4, Forres Mechanics 2; Inverurie Locos 2, Huntly 3; Keith 3, Deveronvale 1; Nairn County 3, Wick Academy 0; Rothes 3, Turriff United 2; Strathspey Thistle 2, Fraserburgh 2.
Fixtures for Saturday, November 9 – Highland League Cup, first round: Brechin City v Inverurie Locos; Buckie Thistle v Clachnacuddin; Fraserburgh v Forres Mechanics; Huntly v Wick Academy; Keith v Brora Rangers; Lossiemouth v Deveronvale; Nairn County v Banks O’ Dee; Rothes v Formartine United.