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Wilson slams Jags for not ‘having a go’


By Will Clark

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Academy manager Barry Wilson hit out at Strathspey Thistle for a lacklustre approach to their encounter with the Scorries.
Academy manager Barry Wilson hit out at Strathspey Thistle for a lacklustre approach to their encounter with the Scorries.

STRATHSPEY Thistle let down fans who came to see a game of football, according to Scorries’ boss Barry Wilson.

Not for the first time this season, the Academy manager had a go at teams at the lower end of the table for adopting a defensive mentality rather than making a contest of the game.

While appreciating that the Grantown outfit had 17 players missing for the trip north, Wilson said that in shutting up shop and camping in their own half for just about the full 90 minutes, they had let everyone down.

"I’m disappointed for the fans and, despite winning, I don’t know how to feel," he said after his side’s 4-0 victory.

"I know Brian Ritchie will be making excuses about the number of players he had out, but 11 players make a team and he still had six regular first team players on the pitch.

"Throughout the 90 minutes, there were 10 at the back and in the second half, they went even further back into their own half. The game just didn’t stretch.

"If I was the manager of Strathspey, I would have told the players to have a go as it was their last game of the season and they had nothing to lose."

The lack of adventure from the Speysiders also had an effect on his own team with the lack of challenge inducing a muted response from the Scorries in the second half. "Our final ball was poor, our deliveries were poor, our set pieces were poor but it’s hard to motivate when you have so much of the ball and you’re not put under any pressure," said Wilson. "I sympathise with our players, but in the end we got a result and it’s number 16 out of the road and hopefully we’ve got one more performance left in us."

Ritchie held his hands up and admitted his team had no intention of venturing forward, saying the lack of options at his disposal meant they were limited in what they could do.

A number of his players did not even bother to say they would not be on the bus for the trip to Caithness, with a club official stating those who went AWOL would never play for the club again.

But Ritchie said that with the club on course to finish 15th – their highest placing since joining the Highland League four years ago – it has continued its steady improvement.

"Given that we had 14 injuries and three call-offs 24 hours before kick-off, we could only put a team together with what we had available.

"Craig Ireland, at 42 years old, played in a Welfare game on Friday night and stepped in, along with teenager Darren Thomas who had never played at that level before. I can’t take anything away from them."

Ritchie added: "Academy are one of the top footballing sides in the league and the only instruction I could give was for them to sit in and get out of Harmsworth Park with a bit of respectability.

"I am delighted that we only lost 4-0."


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