It was Sean McCarthy’s turn to show his agility a minute later, when Neil Gauld broke away from the Wick defence and hammered a shot from the corner of the 6 yard box, McCarthy diving low to his left, managed to get fingertips to the ball to turn it around the post.
Wick finally made the breakthrough in the 27th minute when Inverurie keeper Andy Reid could not hold on to a shot from Grant Steven and Andrew Hardwick, quickest to the loose ball, fired it into the net from 3 yards.
8 minutes later Wick had their second – Davie Allan running onto a ball inside the left corner of the 18 yard box looked to have been barged off the ball by Locos Mark Souter but, recovering quickly, swivelled to lay the ball into the path of the oncoming Marc Macgregor and the Wick forward wasted no time in lashing the ball past the Inverurie keeper.
Looking to be heading safely to half time Wick had the bit of luck that had been evading them all season – A shot from the left by Inverurie’s Greg Mitchell forced Sean McCarthy into a low diving save to his left, pushing the ball across the full length of the Wick goal line – just fast enough to keep ahead of the sprinting Neil Gauld. Gauld eventually gathered the ball 2 yards past the far post but in the time it took to turn and shoot, Gary Manson had positioned himself on the goal line and managed to block the Locos man’ s effort.
Half time: Wick 2 v Inverurie 0
Locos had the first chance of the second half – a 20 yard shot from Greg Mitchell once again bringing out a superb save from McCarthy and in the 58th minute Wick once again had luck on their side when a bullet header from Grant Steven looked destined for the bottom corner of his own net until Sam Mackay cleared off the line.
Goal number 3 for Wick was a beauty to watch: A Davie Allan pass to Gordy MacNab, who slipped the ball to Marc Macgregor on the penalty spot – unable to turn due to the attentions of Inverurie’s Souter, Macgregor held the ball up long enough for Jack Henry to run in and with a deft backheel set up Henry to smash the ball past Reid into the bottom left corner.
2 minutes later Inverurie were left stunned as Davie Allan weaved his way down the left, layed on a pass to Gordy MacNab and MacNab’s swerving shot from 25 yards bounced just infront of the Inverurie keeper into the roof of the net. Cue sliding celebrations in front of the South Stand for MacNab.
By this time the crowd were revelling in the superb passing and link up play between Davie Allan, Richard Mcadie, Sam Mackay, Jack Henry and Marc Macgregor and were stunned into silence when Academy were pegged back in the 75th minute when Joe McCabe rose above the Wick defenders and keeper and directed his header into an empty net.
The Locos revival didn’t last long and Wick restored their 4 goal advantage 5 minutes later when Davie Allan picked up a Marc Macgregor pass on the edge of the 18 yard line, turned Locos Mark Souter inside out before firing his shot towards goal. At this point Souter must have thought luck was with him as the ball clattered off his legs and the chance looked lost – Souter though could not get the ball under control and the persistant Allan pounced on the loose ball and knocked it past keeper Reid.
Marc Macgregor had his second goal of the afternoon 7 minutes later, powering past Locos defender Marc Souter and beating the oncoming Andy Reid from the right corner of the 6 yard box.
Locos had the last say in this match in the 90th minute when substitute Thomas Reid’s header looped high into the air and dropped below the bar at the far post.
Both sides should be congratulated in producing an entertaining game of football in what were the dreichest of conditions.
Full time: Wick 6 v Inverurie 2
Today’s match sponsor Caithness Flagstone Ltd selected Andrew Hardwick as the man of the match. Andrew is pictured with today’s mascot Alan Sutherland
