Wick Academy 0
Forres Mech 2
League
Wick AcademyWick Academy |
0 - 20 - 2 |
Forres MechForres Mech |
 |
League |
 |
| Goalscorers | |
| None. |
Declan Hughes (30) Robert Duncanson (35) |
| Team Managers | |
|
Tom McKenna |
Charlie Rowley |
| Starting Eleven | |
|
Gordon Clark Colin Macrae Alan Farquhar Danny Mackay Gary Manson Ryan Campbell Jack Henry Jack Halliday Sam Mackay Richard Macadie David Allan |
Stuart Knight James Ross Ross MacPherson Graham Fraser Jordan Milne Lee Fraser Robert Duncanson Niall Docherty Declan Hughes Calum Howarth Stuart Soane |
| Bench | |
|
Craig Gunn Grant Aitkenhead Jonah Martens Mark Macadie Alan Hughes Ross Allan James More |
Simon Allan Joe Gauld Allan MacPhee |
| Substitutions | |
|
Craig Gunn for Jack Halliday (57) |
Allan MacPhee for Lee Fraser (49) Joe Gauld for Robert Duncanson (69) Simon Allan for Niall Docherty (80) |
| Cautions | |
|
Danny Mackay (22) Jack Halliday (34) David Allan (67) Sam Mackay (86) |
Jordan Milne (61) Allan MacPhee (73) Joe Gauld (84) |
| Red Cards | |
| None. | None. |
| Match Officials | |
|
Gordon Seago (Referee) |
Match Report
Two first half goals in the space of 5 minutes from Declan Hughes and Robert Duncanson earned visitors Forres Mechanics all three points today. It was the Can-Cans first League win since November.
It was a poor performance from Academy who were looking for their third straight win, with the Scorries failing to make any real threat on the Forres goal.
The visitors tested Gordon Clark twice in the opening exchanges with Lee Fraser coming close on both occasions.
On the half-hour they broke the deadlock. Declan Hughes latched onto the ball as it bounced off the feet of the Academy defenders and he took full advantage steering home past the static Gordon Clark.
Five minutes later they doubled their advantage. Hughes whipped in a cross from the right and picked out the unmarked Robert Duncanson who took a great first touch to control the ball and slotted home with a cool left footed finish.
Clark had to be at his best in the Academy goal just before the interval as he pulled off a great save to deny Lee Fraser.
Half Time – Wick Academy 0 – Forres Mechanics 2
Forres picked up where they left off after the break with further good chances coming through Stuart Soane and Niall Docherty.
Academy finally showed some intent and Jack Henry was unlucky not to pull a goal back as his goal-bound strike took a deflection and flew just over the bar.
Forres almost gifted David Allan a goal as they failed to clear a Colin Macrae cross but Alan passed up the chance by slicing his shot wide of target.
Forres finished with yet another great chance. Clark again was called up to make another good save blocking Joe Gauld’s attempt and Hughes fired the re-bound off the post.
Full Time – Wick Academy 0 – Forres Mechanics 2
Match report written by John Briskham
Click here to view newspaper report.
Newspaper extract from Caithness Courier - 22nd January 2020.
Squad Statistics (as at January 18th, 2020)
| 2019/2020 | All Time | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | Nat |  |
 |
|
|
|
| Gordon Clark (GK) | 24 |
|
3 | - | 11 | - |
| Danny Mackay | 28 |
|
15 | - | 151 | 5 |
| Colin Macrae | 21 |
|
8 | - | 29 | 1 |
| Ryan Campbell | 20 |
|
19 | 1 | 25 | 2 |
| Gary Manson | 36 |
|
27 | 4 | 662 | 50 |
| Alan Farquhar | 31 |
|
22 | 1 | 338 | 5 |
| Jack Henry | 28 |
|
13 | 4 | 60 | 8 |
| Jack Halliday | 25 |
|
21 | 3 | 92 | 14 |
| Richard Macadie | 32 |
|
25 | 5 | 552 | 200 |
| Sam Mackay | 30 |
|
22 | 3 | 348 | 143 |
| David Allan | 30 |
|
20 | 4 | 367 | 149 |
| Craig Gunn (sub) | 32 |
|
21 | 11 | 105 | 46 |
Team Sheet (Scanned Photo)
League Table (as at January 18th, 2020)
| Pld | W | D | L | +/- | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Brora Rangers | 20 | 18 | 0 | 2 | +66 | 54 |
| 2. | Inverurie Locos | 21 | 15 | 1 | 5 | +35 | 46 |
| 3. | Fraserburgh | 18 | 14 | 3 | 1 | +45 | 45 |
| 4. | Rothes | 19 | 14 | 2 | 3 | +32 | 44 |
| 5. | Buckie Thistle | 19 | 14 | 0 | 5 | +22 | 42 |
| 6. | Nairn County | 20 | 12 | 3 | 5 | +6 | 39 |
| 7. | Forres Mech | 23 | 10 | 3 | 10 | +14 | 33 |
| 8. | Formartine Utd | 17 | 10 | 2 | 5 | +27 | 32 |
| 9. | WICK | 23 | 8 | 5 | 10 | -8 | 29 |
| 10. | Keith | 21 | 8 | 4 | 9 | -12 | 28 |
| 11. | Deveronvale | 22 | 8 | 3 | 11 | -9 | 27 |
| 12. | Huntly | 21 | 4 | 5 | 12 | -28 | 17 |
| 13. | Strathspey | 17 | 5 | 1 | 11 | -16 | 16 |
| 14. | Clachnacuddin | 22 | 3 | 4 | 15 | -28 | 13 |
| 15. | Turriff United | 22 | 3 | 3 | 16 | -49 | 12 |
| 16. | Lossiemouth | 22 | 3 | 1 | 18 | -57 | 10 |
| 17. | Fort William | 15 | 2 | 0 | 13 | -40 | 6 |
Manager's Programme Notes
Interview by Matt Leslie, Caithness Courier
Manager Tom McKenna did not hold back in his verdict on Wick Academy’s dire show in their 2-0 Highland League defeat to Forres Mechanics on Saturday.
A poor performance from Wick enabled the Can-Cans to head down the road to Moray with the three points.
While defeats happen, the manner of this one disappointed McKenna who admitted his men were not firing on all cylinders.
He said: “We were just not at the races out there – we didn’t perform from the word go.
“There was nothing about us. We were just flat and it was a very disappointing day.
“We couldn’t string two passes together, didn’t compete and couldn’t get going.
“Sometimes you have to ask the players to take responsibility for themselves and pick things up to create an environment to lift the fans. But from the first whistle to the very last minute, we couldn’t create anything.
“I don’t know why that was, because we’ve done well the last couple of weeks and we were coming into this game very confident.
“We were irrational in our performance and everything just seemed rushed.
“There was nobody putting their foot on the ball and slowing the game down. We just looked nervy.
“This was a bad day at the office and we were well short of our capabilities and standards. Forres did what they are good at but we didn’t get close enough to them.
“I thought the first half was scrappy with the ball going back and forward.
“Then, lo and behold, they got two goals. We gave the ball away and they capitalised on it.
“No words were said to the boys afterwards. I think that sometimes it’s best to wait until the next training session after things have simmered down.”