Fort William 1
Wick Academy 4
League
Fort William |
1 - 4 |
Wick Academy |
 |
League |
 |
| Goalscorers | |
| Harry Nicolson (17) |
Jack Halliday (34) Craig Gunn (43) David Allan (74) Jonah Martens (93) |
| Team Managers | |
| Russell MacMorran |
Tom McKenna |
| Starting Eleven | |
|
Martin Mackinnon (C) Gabriel Hastings Donald Morrison Harry Nicolson Ryan Fyffe Jack Brown Ross Gunn Ryan Henderson Stephen McGhie Iain MacLellan Aidan Taylor |
Sean McCarthy Craig Gunn Gary Manson Ross Allan Ryan Campbell Jack Halliday Ben Sinclair Richard Macadie Gordon MacNab David Allan Alan Hughes |
| Bench | |
|
Roderick Harper Kennedy Jordan Andrew Ronan Cameron Ruairidh MacDonald Josh Knowles Dylan Wilson Mateusz Kulbacki |
Jonah Martens Grant Aitkenhead Mark Macadie Gordon Clark |
| Substitutions | |
|
Roderick Harper Kennedy for Stephen McGhie (46) Jordan Andrew for Ryan Henderson (54) Ronan Cameron for Aidan Taylor (80) |
Jonah Martens for Alan Hughes (65) Mark Macadie for Gordon MacNab (65) Grant Aitkenhead for Richard Macadie (78) |
| Cautions | |
| Ryan Fyffe (39) |
Jack Halliday (87) |
| Red Cards | |
| None. | None. |
| Match Officials | |
|
Gordon Seago (Referee) |
Match Report
Academy started the game really well and created their first chance after 9 minutes. A Ryan Campbell cross was taken down by Richard Macadie and his volley was tipped over the bar by keeper Martin Mackinnon.
The home side took the lead against the run of play on 17 minutes. A corner in was fired on goal by Ryan Fyffe and blocked by McCarthy but Harry Nicolson snapped up the rebound and side footed home from 6 yards out.
Academy drew level in the 34th minute. Jack Halliday drove at the Fort defence and after a few ricochets the ball fell back to him on the edge of the box and he riffled home into the corner of the net passed the diving Mackinnon.
4 minutes before the break Fort keeper Mackinnon was again in the action, this time making a save to deny Davie Allan who had been played in on goal by Jack Halliday.
Two minutes later however Mackinnon made a mistake when a Craig Gunn free kick from all of 40 yards out seemed to slip through him and into the net to put Academy in at the break with their noses in front.
Half Time – Fort William 1 – Wick Academy 2
On 69 minutes Academy came close to increasing their lead. Richard Macadie broke down the left wing and cut the ball back to Jack Halliday but his first-time effort smacked back off post, and he sent the re-bound wide of target.
A minute later Macadie played a short corner to Ben Sinclair who crossed into the box to Ross Allan, but Allan sent his header straight at the keeper.
Academy however were not to be denied their third goal, Macadie crossed from the right into the heart of the Fort box to find an unmarked Davie Alan who headed home from 5 yards out.
Substitute Mark Macadie sent Davie Allan in one-on-on with keeper Mackinnon who pulled out another in a string of good saves to prevent Allan scoring his second of the game.
Fort had two good chances in the closing stages of the match, Ronan Cameron had a shot straight to McCarthy and Ross Gunn then had a great turn in the box and forced McCarthy to tip the ball around the post.
In injury time Academy scored their 4th when substitute Jonah Martens headed the ball home from only a yard out for his first Academy goal.
Full Time – Fort William 1 – Wick Academy 4
Match report written by John Briskham
Click here to view newspaper report.
Newspaper extract from Caithness Courier - 2nd October 2019.
Squad Statistics (as at September 28th, 2019)
| 2019/2020 | All Time | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | Nat |  |
 |
|
|
|
| Sean McCarthy (GK) | 26 |
|
12 | - | 180 | - |
| Alan Hughes | 24 |
|
12 | - | 111 | 5 |
| Gordon MacNab | 25 |
|
11 | 2 | 65 | 16 |
| Ryan Campbell | 20 |
|
4 | - | 10 | 1 |
| Jack Halliday | 25 |
|
8 | 2 | 79 | 13 |
| Richard Macadie | 32 |
|
12 | 3 | 539 | 198 |
| Gary Manson | 35 |
|
12 | 1 | 647 | 47 |
| Ross Allan | 26 |
|
12 | 1 | 233 | 12 |
| Ben Sinclair | 17 |
|
4 | - | 6 | - |
| Craig Gunn | 32 |
|
12 | 9 | 96 | 44 |
| David Allan | 30 |
|
7 | 3 | 354 | 148 |
| Grant Aitkenhead (sub) | 17 |
|
1 | - | 8 | - |
| Jonah Martens (sub) | 24 |
|
8 | 1 | 8 | 1 |
| Mark Macadie (sub) | 16 |
|
2 | - | 6 | - |
Team Sheet (Scanned Photo)
League Table (as at September 28th, 2019)
| Pld | W | D | L | +/- | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Brora Rangers | 9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | +31 | 24 |
| 2. | Buckie Thistle | 9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | +16 | 24 |
| 3. | Fraserburgh | 9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | +25 | 23 |
| 4. | Formartine Utd | 9 | 7 | 0 | 2 | +23 | 21 |
| 5. | Rothes | 9 | 6 | 1 | 2 | +13 | 19 |
| 6. | Inverurie Locos | 9 | 6 | 0 | 3 | +9 | 18 |
| 7. | Nairn County | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | +4 | 17 |
| 8. | WICK | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 14 |
| 9. | Keith | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | -11 | 14 |
| 10. | Strathspey | 9 | 3 | 1 | 5 | -6 | 10 |
| 11. | Forres Mech | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 8 |
| 12. | Turriff United | 9 | 1 | 2 | 6 | -15 | 5 |
| 13. | Deveronvale | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | -8 | 4 |
| 14. | Fort William | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | -21 | 3 |
| 15. | Lossiemouth | 9 | 1 | 0 | 8 | -26 | 3 |
| 16. | Huntly | 8 | 0 | 2 | 6 | -16 | 2 |
| 17. | Clachnacuddin | 8 | 0 | 1 | 7 | -17 | 1 |
Manager's Programme Notes
Well done to Jonah Martens who scored his first goal for the club today.
Tom McKenna interview with Matt Leslie, Caithness Courier.
Wick Academy manager Tom McKenna was delighted with his team’s four-goal salvo to break down Fort William but admitted: “It could have been more.
”Following the early setback of going a goal behind to Gabriel Hastings’ strike at Claggan Park on Saturday, the Scorries came roaring back with Jack Halliday, Craig Gunn, Davie Allan and Jonah Martens all netting for a 4-1 win.
The victory moved them up to eighth in the Highland League, above Keith on goal difference and three points behind Nairn County.
A number of loanees from Inverness Caley Thistle’s youth ranks have helped Fort William improve this season but those from Wick expecting a tough assignment came away surprised at how easy it turned out to be.
Fort’s season so far, however, has been one of peaks and troughs and Academy clearly got them on a day when they had fallen back to starting point.
McKenna said: “Prior to Fort William scoring their goal, we could have been six or seven nil up.
“That is no exaggeration. We got off the blocks very quickly and were creating some good chances.
“Then Fort William got a set-piece opportunity and, fair play to them, they took their chance to take the lead.
“Of course you’re thinking at this point ‘here we go again’ and you see so often when teams go a goal down after dominating the game, they just deflate.
“Thankfully, the boys kept their composure and just carried on as before and knocked in two goals before half-time.
“We should have gone out and battered them in the second half but we were a wee bit lethargic be-fore Davie Allan got the third.”
Saturday’s result means Academy have now gone four league games unbeaten.