Wick got the early breakthrough two minutes after half time
following a foul by Paul Macleod on Steven Anderson just to the left of the 18 yard
box. Ross Allan fired the free kick into
the centre of the box where it was met by the chest of Marc Macgregor and the
ball looped over Rothes keeper Darren McConnachie into the back of the net.
With Wick confidence boosted, the Rothes defence were
pressed several times more before Marc Macgregor scored his second goal of the
afternoon. A free flowing move out from
the Academy defence culminated in a ball through to Macgegor who wasted no time
in smashing it past keeper McConnachie.
Six minutes later Macgregor completed his hat trick – a ball
played in from the right, controlled by Macgregor and once again the Rothes
keeper was unable to stop the Wick man's shot.
End to end play once again ensued – Steven Anderson making
runs down both the left and right and Rothes keeper McConnachie being called
more and more into play – and Rothes good passing play taking them up to the
edge of the penalty area where the Wick defence were standing firm.
Finally, a break down
the right from Rothes Jamie Wilson took him to the edge of the 6 yard box and
Wick keeper McCarthy had to get down quickly to push away Wilson's shot for a
corner. The resulting corner was met at
the back post with a powerful header by Bruce Milne. Wick keeper Sean McCarthy stopped the ball but
not before it was deemed to have crossed the line. No goal line technology in
place in the Highland League but the lack of protest by the Wick players (and a
look at the photographs later) looks to confirm the Assistant Referees
decision.
The Rothes comeback was cut short 5 minutes later when
Gordon McNab latched on to a loose ball and fired the ball past the Rothes
keeper from just in front of the penalty spot.
Wick's final goal of the afternoon came from a superbly
placed free kick from Ross Allan. A
battling run by substitute Korbyn Cameron was ended when his foot was stood on
by Rothes Bruce Milne. Allan stepped up
to take the free kick, his shot curling well out of the reach of the flying
Darren McConnachie and into the top right hand corner of the goal.
All in all a great game of football .
Full time – 5 – 1
