Wick Academy boss Gary Manson heaped praise on hat-trick hero Kyle Henderson after the 10-man Scorries’ 3-1 victory over Lossiemouth at Grant Park.
The visitors defied the odds thanks to spirited second half performance, despite playing for more than an hour with 10 men after Jack Henry was red carded.
Manager Manson said: “Kyle is a threat, he has a tremendous left foot, is a willing runner and he has pace.
“He’s a real livewire, he puts a power of work in and his movement is good up top, he fully warranted his hat-trick.
“I thought we won it reasonably comfortably in the end. Overall, I’m really pleased. We’ve been beaten here the last three years so it’s good to get that monkey off our backs and get the three points.”
However, Manson felt Henry’s sending off was a bit harsh and added: “The description of it was he went over the top of the ball and his foot was high.
“He went in with a bit of force to win the ball, I get that, but his foot was reasonably low.”
Henderson makes his mark
Wick made the breakthrough in the 18th minute when they were awarded a penalty after Lossie defender James Leslie clipped Ross Gunn in the box and Henderson fired the resultant spot kick high into the net.
The visitors were reduced to 10 men in the 32nd minute when Henry was dismissed for a lunging tackle on Niall Kennedy.
It was all-square three minutes later when Jared Kennedy got on the end of a long ball to head powerfully into the net.
Lossie must have fancied their chances of going on to win the game at this point but it was the visitors who dominated the second period.
Henderson gave Wick the lead in the 66th minute when he rounded Lossie goalkeeper Stuart Knight to net.
He completed his hat-trick nine minutes later after another bustling run into the box, which ended with a clinical finish.
The nearest Lossie came to getting one back was a rasping effort from sub Ryan Stuart which Scorries’ keeper Graeme Williamson did well to keep out.
Lossie assistant manager Ian Campbell said: “It just didn’t happen in the second half. I thought in the first half we were quite comfortable, even when they scored the penalty we were the better side.
“When we got the goal back I thought there would only be one winner. Maybe the players thought that as well but it just didn’t happen.
“We lost two really bad goals. You would honestly have thought they had the 11 men. It’s devastating to lose a game like that, it’s points we just can’t afford to drop.”
Clachnacuddin 3-1 Turriff United
Clachnacuddin surpassed last their points tally from last season by beating Turriff United 3-1 at Grant Street Park.
The Lilywhites only amassed 23 points last campaign, but have already gathered 25 this term after triumphing against a Turra side who were reduced to 10 men after 20 minutes.
Rorie Macleod swept home Allan MacPhee’s cutback from the left to give Clach a fifth minute lead. Within two minutes it was all square as John Allan applied the finishing touch following a Kieran Yeats corner.
However, United then had Owen Kinsella sent off by referee Alex Shepherd for pulling down James Anderson and denying a clear goalscoring opportunity.
Connor Bunce converted the resultant penalty and Lewis Mackenzie’s powerful low drive late on completed the scoring.
Clach boss Conor Gethins said: “If I’m being critical it was a poor performance from us, we looked like the team with 10 men because our ball retention wasn’t good enough.
“But we’ve come along way, we’ve already got more points than last season and we’re winning when we’re not playing well which is a good sign.
“It’s certainly not all bad for us. However, we’ve set a standard at times this season which we don’t want to drop below.
“We know we’ll have to play better than that in the North of Scotland Cup final against Brora next weekend.”
Turriff signed 20-year-old centre-back Lucas Smith from Formartine United on a deal until the summer of 2027 before the game and have also secured 17-year-old midfielder Archie Gibson on a two-year contract.
Manager Warren Cummings said: “Archie has been fantastic since coming into the team, although he’s young he plays like a man.
“Lucas made his debut coming on after 20 minutes. He was hugely impressive and long may that continue.
“I was disappointed we shot ourselves in the foot with the opportunities we gave Clach to be 2-1 up and by being down to 10 men ourselves.
“But the players’ work-rate and attitude was exceptional. We had a few chances which we didn’t take, we tried to have a go and Clach knew they were in the game.”
Buckie Thistle 1-2 Forres Mechanics
Forres Mechanics inflicted a third defeat in eight days on champions Buckie Thistle with a 2-1 victory at Victoria Park.
Goals in eacghhalf from Calum Frame and Matt Jamieson won it for the visitors, with the returning Josh Peters levelling Frame’s opener for the Jags.
Cans manager Steven Macdonald said: “We haven’t won at Buckie for a long time so I’m really pleased for the boys. They worked really hard for it.
“We made a great start to the game and probably should have went two up not long after the first goal when Aiden Cruickshank went through from a short pass-back.
“The early goal is really important as it gives you something to hang onto.
“I thought we defended very well and Calum Howarth was magnificent, especially considering he only returned to training on Thursday night. We had to put him in after Charlie Macdonald got injured in our friendly in midweek.”
Forres took the lead in the fifth minute when the impressive Jordan Alonge broke down the right, played in Frame and he rifled a great finish high beyond Mark Ridgers from eight yards.
Buckie levelled on 26 minutes when Andy MacAskill whipped in a superb delivery from a corner and Peters volleyed high past Cameron Farquhar from close range.
The visitors grabbed what proved to be the winner 19 minutes into the second half.
Alonge broke through a tackle to race clear and bring a good save from Ridgers and the ball broke kindly for Jamieson to slot into the empty net from 12 yards.
The home side pushed for an equaliser and Marcus Goodall missed a decent chance at the far post from Innes McKay’s cross before Lyall Keir was denied superbly by Farquhar after pouncing on a defensive mistake.
Thistle assistant manager Hamish Munro said: “I can’t remember losing two in a row as a player, never mind three.
“It hurts massively, I literally hate losing. I could barely sleep last night at the thought of losing again.
“We were well beaten at Brora last weekend, Huntly in midweek was totally gutting and today felt like there was too much feeling sorry for ourselves.
“It’s our job as a group to make sure it doesn’t become four in a row. We need to demand higher standards from each other.”
Strathspey Thistle 0-4 Inverurie Locos
The returning Nathan Meres bagged a hat-trick as Inverurie Locos prevailed 4-0 against Strathspey Thistle at Seafield Park.
Attacker Meres has been missing in recent weeks but impressed on his comeback.
Locos boss Dean Donaldson said: “Nathan’s been missing for the last few weeks because he’s been on holiday. Generally I wouldn’t put boys straight back in and they’d have to wait.
“But we’ve missed him when he’s been away so I put him back in and he’s scored a hat-trick which repays our faith in him.
“Nathan’s electric with his pace, he’s good at holding the ball up and he’s also good on the turn.
“We were pleased with things overall. I felt the result was a fair reflection on the game. After losing against Nairn last weekend we were a bit more clinical in both boxes.”
Blair Smith’s deflected volley put Inverurie ahead early on with Meres’ low finish from Cole Anderson’s feed making it 2-0.
Logan Johnstone’s throw-in was helped into Meres’ path by Lloyd Robertson for number three before half-time and his hat-trick was completed in the dying embers.
Strathspey remain bottom of the table on four points and fielded Sam Cairns and Daniel Whitehorn as trialists due to being without seven players.
Manager Ryan Esson said: “It’s the same thing that’s happening every week and it’s not good enough. The mistakes we keep making are costing us.
“I’m running out of things to say about the goals we concede. It’s so soft, I can’t criticise the players because they put everything into it.
“But when we’re not executing what we’ve worked on or not doing everything we can to execute then it frustrates you.”
Nairn County 1-1 Fraserburgh
Fraserburgh were left to rue missed chances as Nairn hit back to earn a 1-1 draw at Station Park.
The Broch dominated proceedings for the first hour and deservedly went ahead after 24 minutes when Josh Bolton fired a tremendous 25-yard drive beyond Logan Ross with the aid of the crossbar.
Scott Barbour, Paul Young and Aidan Sopel should have increased the lead but failed to convert great chances and they were made to pay for their profligacy when Nairn equalised after 62 minutes when Matthew Wright brilliantly controlled an Andy Greig cross before slipping the ball beyond Joe Barbour.
Broch manager Mark Cowie said: “We controlled virtually the whole match with the start we made being the best we have had in a long time.
“We were well on top then made some bad decisions in the last third, our quality has not been there and it has cost us.
“There are pressure points in games as we had good chances to kill the game just after half time which we didn’t take.
“This gave Nairn a bit of belief and they got their goal from that.”
Nairn manager Ross Tokely said: “We were really good the last half hour but playing against the top sides you have to be at it right from the start.
“To just be that goal behind at half time we still felt we could get something from the game.
“Matthew Wright has got real quality and his first touch gave him the opening to score.
“Our substitutes did well along with our back two who stood up really well to the test Scott Barbour posed.”
Banks o’ Dee 7-1 Rothes
Banks o’ Dee eased to a convincing 7-1 victory against a Rothes outfit which has shipped 19 goals in their last three starts.
Dee co-manager Paul Lawson said: “The scoreline was very good and I think we could have scored a few more as we hit the woodwork a few times,.
“The one negative was losing a goal but overall I have no complaints.
“The crucial goal was our one right on the stroke of half-time as that settled us down.
“We then came out for the second half and scored two early goals which made it very comfortable.”
In the seventh minute the Rothes defence failed to clear a ball from the left flank and Lachie MacLeod fired an unstoppable effort past Sean McCarthy from 12 yards.
Ten minutes later Dee made it 2-0 when Chris Antoniazzi drilled a 15-yard angled drive past McCarthy.
Rothes reduced the leeway on the half hour mark when a long though ball from Jake Thomson picked out Ross Logan who clipped the ball past Kyle Irvine from 10 yards.
The home side restored their two-goal advantage in the 36th minute when MacLeod rose unchallenged to head home Ramsay Davidson’s cross.
On the stroke of half-time Dee made it 4-1. Michael Philipson played a neat one-two with skipper Mark Gilmour who despatched the ball past McCarthy from six yards.
Within two minutes of the restart Banks o’ Dee had made it 5-1 when Philipson beat McCarthy with ease from eight yards.
Three minutes later substitute Andy Hunter passed the ball into the corner of the net from the edge of the box for Dee’s sixth goal.
At the other end Logan made a great darting run but his parting shot from 20 yards cannoned back off the crossbar with Irvine beaten.
Iain Vigurs got in on the act with six minutes to go when McCarthy failed to hold his 10-yard drive and the ball trickled over the line.
Rothes manager Richard Hastings said: “The timing of their goals and the ebbs and flows of the game damaged us.
“We got a good goal back but then we shot ourselves in the foot right on half-time. We didn’t start the second half, although that maybe came from conceding that goal right at the end of the first half.”
Formartine United 2-0 Deveronvale
Formartine United claimed the points with a 2-0 win against Deveronvale in a game which was closer than the scoreline suggested.
Deveronvale are much improved this season and went into the game a mere two points behind their hosts
The key moment came in 57 minutes when the Vale’s Murray Esson was sent off after being deemed to have committed serious foul play with a tackle on Aaron Norris.
Four minutes later Jonny Crawford netted the opener with a header and right on full time substitute Michael Dangana added a second.
Formartine boss Stuart Anderson said: “We expected to have to work hard for the points because Vale’s results against the top sides have been good.
“On the chances we had in the first half we could have taken them to make it more comfortable while they had one really good chance.
“We were well on top at the time of the sending off and although I didn’t expect to see a red card you have to go on and capitalise.
“For Jonny Crawford it is now ten goals this season, a good return for a centre back who can play right back and good for Michael Dangana to get off the mark with his first goal for the club.
“It’s now 22 points out of 24 from our last eight games.”
Former Formartine striker Garry Wood, now player-manager of Deveronvale, said: “I can’t fault the effort of the guys and I felt we had the best chances in the first half.
“We probably should have taken one so that’s a negative.
“The sending off early in the second half changed the game. I don’t think it was a red because Murray Esson didn’t see the player coming across. It was a yellow at worst in my eyes. It was an uphill task from there but we never gave up.
“A disappointment for me was the free header for their goal while we got hit on the break for their second. I don’t mind that as we were showing the effort to get back into the game.”
Keith 1-2 Huntly
Evening Express Aberdeenshire Cup finalists Huntly grabbed a dramatic winner three and a half minutes into stoppage time against Keith.
Lewis Crosbie scrambled the ball over the line to spark scenes of jubilation in the visiting camp.
Huntly manager Colin Charlesworth said: “It was a good three points, as it was always going to be a tough game coming on the back of Wednesday.
“It’s mentally and physically draining having a midweek match, and we knew we would come up against a stuffy Keith side.
“They were well worth their lead in the first half, we simply weren’t at the races, but we’ve good players in our squad, and strength in depth for a reason.
“Both teams looked dangerous towards the end with nobody settling for a draw.”
Keith, on the back of five successive league defeats, looked sharp in the early stages with Horace Ormsby twice going close.
It was another Ormsby effort in the 24th minute that saw the ball break for Jordan Cooper to rifle home a low drive for his first goal of the season to give the Maroons a deserved lead.
The home side forced a string of corners, but without adding to their tally, although a James Brownie header wasn’t far off target on the stroke of half-time.
Huntly’s half-time pep talk worked wonders, although poor Keith defending allowed them to level two minutes after the break.
Failure to clear the ball allowed Ross Still to cross for Brodie Allen to head home from eight yards.
A string of substitutions for the Black and Golds saw them take control before Keith fought back into the game.
Then, came the killer blow when Craig Reid parried Angus Grant’s initial shot only for Crosbie to scramble the loose ball over the line despite Reid’s frantic efforts.
Keith manager Craig Ewen said: “It’s a difficult one for us to take really.
“Nobody wants to play for a draw, so maybe we threw too many bodies up at the end trying to win and it’s cost us at the end of the day.
“It was a game we found to lose late on, we’ve had a couple like that already this season, yet we played well for reasonable spells.”
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