Wick chances were coming thick and fast – Richard Macadie tried his luck from 20 yards – his shot flying inches wide of the right hand post. On the half hour Jack Halliday’s powerful header was well saved at his near post by keeper Moir.
In the 32nd minute Craig Gunn found space down the left and drove into the18 yard box where he was upended by Aaron Hamilton. Referee Munro showed a yellow card to Hamilton and pointed to the spot – Gary Manson duly stepped up and fired the ball into the net.
36 minutes gone and there was nothing Lossie keeper Blair Moir could do when a long ball down the middle found Richard Macadie unmarked – and the Wick man calmly fired the ball into the bottom right corner of the Lossie net. Two minutes later Macadie rounded off the scoring for the half (and completed his hat trick) – a pass from Marc Macgregor played in Davie Allan, who sprinted to the by line, cut the ball back to Macadie on the penalty spot and the Wick man fired the ball past keeper Moir.
Half time 8 – 0 and a wonderful half of football from Academy.
Half time substitution : Greg Mackay on for Danny Mackay
The half time break gave the Lossiemouth players chance to draw breath and regroup and a more defensive minded team ran out for the second half. Wick continued to create chances – a drive down the right and cross by Sam Mackay was cut out with a diving save by Blair Moir before Marc Macgregor could reach the ball and the ball was scrambled out for a corner by Scott Campbell.
Alan Farquhar was next to miss out – flying in to get his head to a cross in from the Sam Mackay but again Blair Moir managed to get a hand to the ball to turn it around the post for a corner. Another cross from Sam Mackay flashed across the face of goal but this time no Wick player could get a touch. Moir again came to the rescue of Lossie when he collected a cross in the air under heavy pressure from Jack Henry.
Pegged back to their own half for most of the time the first good chance of the second half came on the hour for Lossie when James McLaren broke through the middle but sub Greg Mackay did enough to put the Lossie man off his shot and Sean McCarthy was able to safely collect the ball.
Jack Henry was next up for Wick – the ball finding him in space at the right corner of the 6 yard box but he ballooned his shot high over the bar. Craig Gunn created and spurned his own chance after driving down the right wing, cut to the edge of the box but fired his shot inches wide of the near post.
While Lossie were finding it difficult to get out of their own half they also defended stalwartly and in the 70th minute Marc Macgregor was the next player to be thwarted by the Lossie defence – Alan Hughes fed the ball into Macgregor on the edge of the 6 yard box but his goalbound shot was blocked by a combination of a diving Scott Campbell and Blair Moir.
With Davie Allan off it was Alan Hughes turn to terrorise the Lossie defenders and it was his cross that gave Gordy MacNab his first chance of the match – but he didn’t make clean contact and the ball inched past the right post.
With ten minutes to go it looked like Sam Mackay would break the second half deadlock but his shot was brilliantly blocked by his legs by Blair Moir and a minute later the cross bar came to the rescue of Moir when a flying header from Gordy MacNab had him beaten but the ball flashed off the bar and over for a goal kick.
No goals in the second half but plenty of entertainment.
Full time : Wick 8 v Lossiemouth 0
Richard Macadie bagged a hat-trick today and picked up the man of the match award, presented by Match Sponsor Alan Turner
