Wick Academy 'on a decent run of form' ahead of Inverurie trip
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Wick Academy manager Gary Manson wants his players to start taking their good home form into away fixtures as they prepare for Saturday's Highland League trip to Inverurie.
The Scorries will be looking to complete a league double over Locos, having beaten them 2-1 at Harmsworth Park in November, although Dean Donaldson's side have undergone a turnaround in fortunes in recent months after a poor start to the campaign.
Academy produced arguably their best performance of the season last weekend in a 3-1 victory over Formartine United which extended their unbeaten home run to five matches.
That result lifted Wick to 12th in the table, two places below Locos.
Manson said: "They had a good result on Wednesday night – they beat an Aberdeen development team [2-1] in the Aberdeenshire Cup. It'll be a tough game.
"They have improved and obviously they've gone up the table a fair bit since we played them last.
"We're in a decent run of form ourselves. We've strung a few wins together since the turn of the year and gained quite a lot of points, so we'll go down there in a confident mood and see what we can do.
"It was always going to be tricky at the start of the season with so many new players, but in our last five games we've won three and drawn one. We're going okay at the moment."
Striker Gordon MacNab will return to the squad from his one-match suspension. However, defender Owen Harrold will again miss out as he continues to recover from the knee injury he suffered at Brechin.
Academy trailed at half-time against Formartine but then took control with goals from Kyle Henderson, Jack Halliday and Mark Macadie.
"We've got pace in our forward areas that can hurt any team," Manson said. "As long as you stay in the game you'll always get chances and then it's just about how many of those chances you can take.
"At home we've been scoring lots of goals in the last few games – three against Strathspey, three against Lossiemouth, three against Formartine.
"It's about staying in the game, being hard to break down, not conceding many goals and then taking your chances when they arrive. It's something that we've been doing quite well recently so long may it continue.
"Nobody likes to travel to Wick and it gives us a good advantage. Our home record has been really good this season, only three [league] defeats.
"If we can transfer some of that into some of the away games in the remainder of the season then we will hopefully finish quite strongly."
The home fixture against Locos four months ago saw an incident-packed final 10 minutes. Inverurie's Thomas Reid cancelled out Marc Macgregor's first-half opener and the visitors were then awarded a soft penalty only for Graeme Williamson to pull off a superb save.
Academy secured all three points when Rob McLean headed home his first goal for the club in stoppage time.
Brora Rangers had a runaway 10-1 victory at Strathspey Thistle on Wednesday night, with eight of the Cattachs' goals coming in the second half.
Highland League results from Wednesday: Keith 1, Nairn County 1; Strathspey Thistle 1, Brora Rangers 10; Turriff United 1, Deveronvale 3.
Fixtures – Saturday, March 9: Brechin City v Deveronvale; Formartine United v Huntly; Forres Mechanics v Brora Rangers; Fraserburgh v Banks O' Dee; Inverurie Locos v Wick Academy; Lossiemouth v Buckie Thistle; Rothes v Clachnacuddin; Strathspey Thistle v Keith; Turriff United v Nairn County.
Wednesday, March 13: Brora Rangers v Nairn County; Buckie Thistle v Banks O' Dee; Forres Mechanics v Brechin City; Strathspey Thistle v Wick Academy.
Saturday, March 16: Banks O' Dee; v Forres Mechanics; Brora Rangers v Formartine United; Buckie Thistle v Inverurie Locos; Clachnacuddin v Brechin City; Deveronvale v Strathspey Thistle; Huntly v Wick Academy; Keith v Lossiemouth; Nairn County v Fraserburgh; Rothes v Turriff United.
