Wick Academy's 'two moments of madness' prove costly against Highland League leaders Brechin City
Wick Academy's hopes of upsetting Brechin City on Saturday were undone by “two moments of madness”, according to the Scorries' manager Gary Manson.
Academy had two players sent off in the second half as the Highland League leaders ran out 3-0 winners at a muddy and breezy Harmsworth Park.
Joe Anderson was dismissed for a second bookable offence four minutes after the break, with Brechin 1-0 up. Jack Henry was shown a straight red after 74 minutes, shortly after Brechin had doubled their lead, and they added a penalty late on.
“Apart from the two moments of madness which you can't legislate for, the rest of the boys that stayed on the park can hold their heads up high,” Manson said.
“They matched the team at the top of the table and who haven't been beaten all season for large parts of the game.
“I said to the players, there's no pressure on us today. Brechin are trying to go for the title and get promotion, and all the pressure was on them.
“We started the second half quite well. Even when we went down to 10 men we were pressing and maybe could have sneaked a goal.
“If the goalie hadn't made a great save from Gordon MacNab at the start of the second half it would have been 1-1 and we were probably in the ascendancy then and it could have been a lot different.
“But once we went down to 10, then nine, it was backs against the wall.”
Manson described the improvement from the first half against Banks O' Dee the previous week – when Academy conceded six goals – as “night and day”.
He said: “One of the main things I asked for at the start of the game was to show a wee bit more aggression, have a wee bit more about you. Against Banks O' Dee we just kind of stood and watched them play.
“When you do that against good players on an all-weather pitch when they can just get the ball down and pass it for fun, they're going to pick you off. So I asked the players to get in their faces, make it difficult for them, and I thought we did that side of the game really well.
“We harried them and we didn't give them any time on the ball to pick us off in our defensive third. That aspect was really pleasing.
“On reflection I would have liked to have created more chances but overall I'm quite proud of them, how they dug in and battled and made it difficult for Brechin.”
The league leaders opened the scoring in the 22nd minute when captain Jamie Bain latched onto a ball in from the left and drilled a low shot beyond Graeme Williamson.
Academy's best attempt came a minute into the second half when Gordon MacNab set off on a great run and saw his shot tipped away by keeper Leonard Wilson.
Brechin doubled their lead after 71 minutes with a scrappy effort from Jordan Northcott which crept in despite the best efforts of Ross Allan to clear it off the line.
Already a man short following Anderson's dismissal, Academy were reduced to nine when Henry was red-carded after a foul on Aubrel Koutsimouka and what appeared to be an off-the-ball incident with Jordan Northcott.
Bain completed the scoring from the penalty spot in 82 minutes, sending Williamson the wrong way after Northcott was adjudged to have been tripped in the box by Ryan Campbell.
Marc Macgregor marked his return to Wick Academy with a hard-working performance up front and was involved in some promising link-up play.
Manson said: “Marc will take a wee bit of time, but you can see what he's about. He is a big, strong guy up top and he will lead the line well. He'll hold it in, he's got a good touch, he'll bring others into play, and it's something we've missed all season.
“Once he gets fully up to speed and has a good few training sessions and games under his belt then he'll hopefully be a good asset for us.”
Henry and Anderson completed an unwanted double on Saturday as they were also both given their marching orders in Academy's away match against Brechin last season.
Wins for Lossiemouth and Clachnacuddin on Saturday meant Wick dropped from 12th to 14th in the table.
