Wick Academy 4
Fort William 1
League

Manager's Programme Notes

Congratulations to Gary Manson and Richard Macadie who both clocked up significant milestones today. Gary scored his 50th competitive goal in his 659th appearance, and Richard scored his 200th goal in his 550th appearance.

Alan Henry from the Caithness Courier interviewed Tom after the game:
Manager Tom McKenna hailed Richard Macadie as “professional through and through” after the attacking midfielder brought his goal tally in competitive games for Wick Academy to 200.
Macadie (32) is the club’s record scorer and he reached the double century with a goal in each half during Saturday’s 4-1 Highland League victory over Fort William at Harmsworth Park.
“Richard just doesn’t stop. His enthusiasm is unbelievable,” McKenna said afterwards. “He still wants to play, he still wants to be involved.
“The football club means a lot to Richard. For me, he’s professional through and through.
“He has been here a long time and he’s the leading scorer, so to get his 200th goal at the start of a new year is fantastic for him.
”McKenna looks upon Macadie and other long-serving players such as Gary Manson and Davie Allan as role models for younger members of the squad. All three were on the scoresheet on Saturday.
“I think they’re in the same mould, Gary, Davie and Richard – they’re ultimate professionals,” McKenna said. “They look after themselves, the club means a lot to them, and they take a lot of pride in what they do.
”McKenna has set his team the challenge of gathering as many points as possible from now to the end of the season and getting themselves up the league table.
While pleased with the win on Saturday, he acknowledged that the young Fort William side – featuring six players on loan from Caley Thistle – had contributed a lot to the game.
“They started off quite brightly and I thought we scored two goals against the run of play,” McKenna said.
“We went a bit flat and allowed them to play.
“They’re young professionals and they are technically very gifted players.
“If you give them time and space they are going to cause you problems. I don’t know if they’re training every day but their sharpness and fitness levels are going to be very high.
“I thought we weren’t effective enough off the ball and when we were on it I thought we gave it away too easily.
”At half-time, with Fort having reduced the deficit to 2-1, McKenna urged his players to press higher.
“I told them to compete more for the first balls and be more proactive on the second balls. I just wanted us to keep the ball a bit longer,” he said.“I thought our retention of the ball was poor. Sometimes we blame the pitch but they [Fort William] were able to do it.
“We were a wee bit better in the second half. We got tighter to them and made it difficult for them.
“With all due respect they’re a good team, good young lads. They try to do the right things and play football the right way, and I’ve got to give them a lot of credit.
“But for us it’s three points, it’s job done, and it sets us up nicely for the second half the season.”

Alan Hendry also interviewed Richard Macadie after the game:
Richard Macadie has revealed that he was sure his 200th competitive goal for Wick Academy would come in Saturday’s game at home to Fort William.
And so it proved, as the club’s record scorer struck twice – in the third and 78th minutes – to help his team to a 4-1 Highland League victory and complete his personal double century.
It came in his 550th competitive appearance for the club.
Macadie (32) had his testimonial last season and had his sights set on reaching the 200-goal mark during the current campaign. His double against Fort followed the disappointment of having a penalty saved in the defeat at Buckie the previous weekend.
“I’ve been waiting for it for so long,” the attacking midfielder said. “It has been talked about every time I’ve been playing and missed a chance, and last week was a nightmare after missing that penalty.
“I said all week that I would get it today. I got two chances and I took them.
“And it’s better to get it at home as well. My 100th goal was away [in December 2012] when we beat Buckie 7-0 and I scored five. I’ll never forget that game.”
It was fitting that goal number 200 was set up by Davie Allan, who is close to a scoring landmark of his own as his opener against Fort took him to 149 competitive goals for Academy.
Macadie said: “If you take a touch you can miss the chance, especially on that pitch, so as it came in I made my mind up I was hitting it.
“I was happy that Davie provided the assist, as he has assisted so many over the years for me. He’s getting back to his best.”
Academy’s other strike on Saturday was a penalty by Gary Manson – his 50th goal for the club.
“It was good for Gaz too,” Macadie said. “He always said he was close to getting it [his 50th goal] and it’s good that he got it on the same day.”
Macadie said the aim now is to try and remain unbeaten for the remainder of the season and start climbing the table. He is also keen to see fans coming along to Harmsworth Park in greater numbers to cheer on the team.
“It has been a pretty poor start to the season. We’ve had a lot of away games and that has been a factor,” he said.
“We want to go unbeaten for the rest of the season if we can – that’s the first target.
“And to be honest we want to get the crowds back too, because they’ve been down a bit and you notice it. It makes a difference when you’re playing.”
Macadie made his competitive debut for Wick in August 2003 and became a first-team regular a couple of seasons later, after returning to Ross County. A high point of his time with the Scorries was the 6-2 victory over Nairn County in the North of Scotland Cup final of 2015 – the club’s first piece of silverware since joining the Highland League.
His highest goal tally in a season was 28 in 2010/11. Macadie’s five-goal haul at Buckie in 2012 was the first time an Academy player had scored that many in a single Highland League match.