Wick Academy manager Gary Manson believes his players are beginning to show their potential after defeating Forres Mechanics 2-0.
Ryan Campbell’s second half double earned the Scorries the points at Harmsworth Park after Jack Halliday’s first half penalty had been saved.
This was Wick’s second successive victory and Manson said: “It was another good win.
“That’s two in a row so hopefully we’re starting to build a bit of confidence and momentum.
“It was quite comfortable in the end and Jack’s penalty was saved so it could have been more comfortable.
“Overall I felt the boys played well and managed the game well which we haven’t always done this season.
“I think we’re starting to see what we’re capable of. If you don’t win games you need to learn from your mistakes and I think we’ve done that in the last two or three weeks.
“Our Achilles heel has been defending balls coming into our box, we’ve been working on that and it’s starting to bear fruit.
“Hopefully these results build confidence and momentum because we believe we’re a better side than our current league position (12th) shows.”
Midfielder Halliday could have put Academy ahead in the first half, but his penalty was saved by goalkeeper Lee Herbert – making his Can-Cans debut having joined on loan from Buckie.
But the home side made the breakthrough on 53 minutes with Campbell forcing the ball into the net from Ross Allan’s inswinging corner.
Shortly after the hour mark Campbell was on target again and the provider was also the same with Allan delivering another dangerous corner.
For Forres the wait for a win in Gordon Connelly’s second spell as manager continues.
Todays man of the match as chosen by match sponsor John Owens was Alan Hughes, Alan is pictured receiving his award from John Owens and friends. pic.twitter.com/otAiLftpye
— Wick Academy FC (@WickAcademyFC) November 27, 2021
Lossiemouth 0-5 Buckie Thistle
Buckie Thistle continued their recent fine form and moved into second place in this season’s Highland League title race as they hit five goals without reply against Lossiemouth.
It didn’t take Thistle long to find the target as Sam Urquhart, who tormented the home defence all afternoon, netted the opener after nine minutes with a diving header following a Kevin Fraser cross from the right.
Brodie Allan missed two great chances for Lossie as he saw Kevin Main save superbly from a 16 yard lob before shooting just over shortly afterwards.
The visitors doubled their advantage 13 minutes from the break when Urquhart robbed Ross Archibald on the goal-line to set up Jack Murray who curled a superb 18-yard shot beyond Logan Ross.
Kyle Macleod made sure of the points with a side-foot finish following more fine play from Fraser ten minutes after the break and Urquhart netted number four after a diving Ross save following an Andy MacAskill shot five minutes later.
Mark Mclauchlan rounded off the scoring after 67 minutes with a smart finish to leave manager Graeme Stewart delighted.
He said “This has been a hard place to come to this season as Lossie have had some good results and are always tough to play against so I am over the moon to win by five goals.
“To be honest I would have taken any win but we were clinical.
“I still think we could have scored a few more but after making the substitutions we lost a bit of shape. At that point I just wanted to keep a clean sheet as we lost poor goals against Nairn and Clach in our last two games.
“We can’t afford to drop any points and need to continue winning to get into January and see where that takes us.
“We know the teams above us are favourites but you never know what can happen in the league.”
Lossiemouth manager Joe Russell said: “Missing the chances came back to haunt us and it might have made a bit of a difference but this was a poor performance.
“There was nothing about us and I have said before we are a Jekyll and Hyde team. Today it was the former so we just need to get our chins up and go again for our next game.”