Wick players must learn lessons from Spain Park drubbing, says Manson
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Wick Academy manager Gary Manson wants his players to learn lessons from their 6-0 drubbing at the hands of Banks O' Dee at the weekend.
In September, the Scorries suffered their heaviest home defeat as a Highland League club when the Aberdeen side cruised to an 8-0 win at Harmsworth Park.
On Saturday, a record away loss looked possible as Academy trailed by six goals at half-time.
They improved after the break and suffered no further damage, but Manson's men will be glad to see the back of Banks O' Dee for this season after conceding 14 goals and scoring none in their two games against the league newcomers.
Manson said: “I said to the boys afterwards, obviously you want to take points from games – but if you can't take any points, if you lose, you've got to learn lessons from it. You can't write a game off and not take anything from it at all.
“That's all we can do from Saturday. The boys know exactly what I thought of what happened.
"They should be under no illusions about how disappointed I was with the first-half performance and what went wrong. I'll be looking for a reaction next week."
Manson acknowledged that the artificial pitch at Spain Park suited the home side.
“It's a nice, flat, true surface that's good to play football on," he said. "They are obviously used to it.
"They were slick, they were moving the ball quite quickly, they were passing it around us at times and they were quite good to watch for the neutral, I would imagine.
“A lot of it was down to us standing off them and just watching them, letting them play football. If you give decent players time and space on the ball then they're going to play well.
"Anybody can look good if you've got loads of time and space on the ball, so I told them that at half-time and it had to be better in the second half – and, to be fair to them, it was.
"It might be a factor that Banks O' Dee took their foot off the pedal a little bit in the second half. But on the flip side we were far more energetic, we were far more aggressive in getting after the ball and then showing a bit more quality on the ball.
“It's not that Banks O' Dee are a big, physical team that overpowered us. They just outplayed us and it was poor to see.
"There was no aggression, no intensity, no will to do the hard yards and the ugly side of the game from us and it was just far too easy for them to play.
"Against Buckie [a 1-0 home defeat] we were right at it and didn't give them time and space on the ball, and then against Clach [a 3-1 away win] we showed the other side of the game – we were quite clinical in the first half and were 3-0 up.
“The first half on Saturday was completely out of character and I've no idea where it came from.”
Lachie Macleod opened the scoring after two minutes and further goals followed from Magnus Watson (16 and 32 minutes), Jack Henderson (23) and Hamish Macleod (38, 40).
Manson admitted it was about “damage limitation” after the break.
“We were never going to win the game, we were never going to score seven goals in the second half without reply, so it was just about limiting the damage that was done," he said. "We came out of the second half with a few positives but it was too little, too late.”
Banks O' Dee were North Region junior champions last season and replaced Fort William in the Highland League. After a promising start to the 2022/23 campaign they were hit by a 24-point deduction over a player registration error.
Manager Jamie Watt and his assistant Roy McBain left the club earlier this month. Banks O’ Dee announced at the weekend that their interim management team of Josh Winton, Paul Lawson (co-managers) and Alex Gray (assistant) will remain in post for the rest of the season.
Highland League results: Banks O' Dee 6, Wick Academy 0; Brechin City 6, Strathspey Thistle 0; Deveronvale 0, Brora Rangers 6; Formartine United 6, Keith 0; Forres Mechanics 1, Turriff United 2; Huntly 1, Buckie Thistle 1; Inverurie Locos 0, Fraserburgh 4; Nairn County 2, Lossiemouth 0; Rothes 3, Clachnacuddin 2.
Highland League fixtures for Saturday, February 4: Banks O' Dee v Rothes; Buckie Thistle v Brora Rangers; Clachnacuddin v Forres Mechanics; Fraserburgh v Huntly; Keith v Deveronvale; Lossiemouth v Inverurie Locos; Strathspey Thistle v Nairn County; Turriff United v Formartine United; Wick Academy; Brechin City (2pm).
