Wick suffer cup heartache with last-gasp penalty
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Wick Academy............................0
Scorer: Currie (89 pen)
THE Scorries were a minute away from forcing their hosts into a replay 318 miles up the road for a place in the third round of the Scottish Cup.
But in the final minute of the 90, Academy were to find out that knock-out football can be a cruel game.
Over 200 fans who made their way down from Caithness were left outraged by referee James Campbell’s decision to award Berwick a penalty when Grant Steven was judged to have wrestled Stuart Noble to the ground.
At the time, they claimed it was a soft penalty but looking back they may accept that the defender’s decision to put his arms around the striker in the box left Campbell with little option.
It could have been a different story if Wick had capitalised on the award of a penalty in the first five minutes. An energetic start from the visitors saw Davie Allan burst into the box only to be taken down by Devon Jacobs. Captain Sam Mackay stepped up to the mark but his shot produced an excellent save from Youssef Bejaoui to keep the scores level.
Apart from a long-range effort on the stroke of half-time from Mackay, the first half was all Berwick Rangers as Grant Steven and Alan Farquhar put in a heroic shift at the back to keep the scores level going into the break.
The hosts could have taken the lead on the half hour when Dean Hoskins broke down the left past Michael Steven and fired a cross along the six-yard box that was cleared for a corner.
Neil Janczyk’s header then smacked off the post from Lee Currie’s cross to the relief of goalkeeper Michael Gray.
Berwick Rangers continued to dominate in the second half but were beginning to get rattled as they missed several chances to take the lead.
Their frustration led to Academy starting to find gaps in the home defence and in the final 30 minutes the game was on a knife-edge.
Allan used his pace well to send a defence splitting past to Richard Macadie who forced Bejaoui to make a great save as he parried the ball out for a corner. Allan and Macadie then linked up well and Bejaoui made a great save to deny the latter as he knocked his shot for a corner. The winger then launched a ball into the box to find Grant Steven whose downward header bounced over the top of Bejaoui and flicked off the crossbar.
Minutes later, another great chance fell to Wick Academy when Lukasz Geruzel showed some delightful skill to back-heel the ball past the Berwick defence and set up Cunningham with a one-on-one with the goalkeeper but his shot was well blocked.
Just as the Berwick committee was sweating about how much a trip to Caithness would cost, Grant Steven was booked after being adjudged to have hauled down Noble in the box. Currie then showed his opposite captain how to score a penalty when he sent Gray the wrong way to clinch his club’s place in the third round.
Berwick: Bejaoui, Jacobs, Hoskins, Townsley, Brydon, Currie, Notman, Janczyk (Noble 67), Lavery (Ferguson 24), McLaren, McDonald (Gielty 80). Subs not used: McCaldon, McLean.
Wick Academy: Gray, M. Steven, Manson, Farquhar, G. Steven, Shearer, Mackay, Cunningham (Pickles 79), Weir (Geruzel 67), Macadie, Allan. Subs not used: More, Sinclair, Hughes.
Referee – James Campbell.
