Nwicker60
16-Oct-12, 09:18
Can Titchie pull off a cup double...the silverware and the Wick manager's job all in the space of a critical 90 minutes?
THERE’s a lot riding for Wick Academy on their north cup final date with Nairn County, at Inverness, this Saturday.
First and foremost, the burning question...can the Scorries pull it off and bag their first-ever silverware against an equally on-form side? Secondly, will a triumph also net the manager’s job for Richard Hughes.
Last Saturday’s hard-earned win against Huntly was just the tonic Wick needed to set themselves up for the crucial cup clash. Club chairman, Colin Stewart, was naturally delighted with the 3-2 result, which lifted his club into an enviable second place in the Highland League table. Richard Macadie grabbed the winner in a ding-dong affair at Christie Park, just when the outcome looked like a draw.
Colin Stewart credits Hughes with having done a “fantastic job” with the team since the shock, unsettling, departure of manager Davie Kirkwood, upping sticks and moonlighting his way over the Ord to Brora Rangers, of all clubs. The Academy chairman reiterates that nothing will be decided about its new manager, until after the north cup, probably a week following the event.
The reason could be that his executive want to consider the all-important post without any distractions. But there is a school of thought which muses that they are waiting to see if Hughes can cap, a short but impressive spell, as team caretaker by bagging ‘the big one’ and bringing some elusive, silverware over the Ord, to the Harmsworth Park boardroom.
Maybe Hughes is the way to go. Bringing in outsiders, long in pedigree and, in the case of Kirkwood, short in loyalty, has been a costly business for Academy. In Hughes, and his assistant Ian Munro, the club has two local stalwarts who first and foremost have one of the best assets any football club could wish for...they are Wick men, former Academy players and have the club at their black and white strippd hearts. And, no-one can dispute, they have been working wonders with the squad.
No so long ago, fans would probably have settled for a top six finish in the league table. Now, the Scorries are up there with the big boys, challenging for the Holy Grail of Highland soccer, the league title.
Come what may, the confrontation at Grant Street Park, between two on-form sides promises to serve up a cracking 90 minutes for both sets of fans. Academy fans from as far afield as Manchester, are expected to converge on Inverness and cheer their team on, as its 12th man.
THERE’s a lot riding for Wick Academy on their north cup final date with Nairn County, at Inverness, this Saturday.
First and foremost, the burning question...can the Scorries pull it off and bag their first-ever silverware against an equally on-form side? Secondly, will a triumph also net the manager’s job for Richard Hughes.
Last Saturday’s hard-earned win against Huntly was just the tonic Wick needed to set themselves up for the crucial cup clash. Club chairman, Colin Stewart, was naturally delighted with the 3-2 result, which lifted his club into an enviable second place in the Highland League table. Richard Macadie grabbed the winner in a ding-dong affair at Christie Park, just when the outcome looked like a draw.
Colin Stewart credits Hughes with having done a “fantastic job” with the team since the shock, unsettling, departure of manager Davie Kirkwood, upping sticks and moonlighting his way over the Ord to Brora Rangers, of all clubs. The Academy chairman reiterates that nothing will be decided about its new manager, until after the north cup, probably a week following the event.
The reason could be that his executive want to consider the all-important post without any distractions. But there is a school of thought which muses that they are waiting to see if Hughes can cap, a short but impressive spell, as team caretaker by bagging ‘the big one’ and bringing some elusive, silverware over the Ord, to the Harmsworth Park boardroom.
Maybe Hughes is the way to go. Bringing in outsiders, long in pedigree and, in the case of Kirkwood, short in loyalty, has been a costly business for Academy. In Hughes, and his assistant Ian Munro, the club has two local stalwarts who first and foremost have one of the best assets any football club could wish for...they are Wick men, former Academy players and have the club at their black and white strippd hearts. And, no-one can dispute, they have been working wonders with the squad.
No so long ago, fans would probably have settled for a top six finish in the league table. Now, the Scorries are up there with the big boys, challenging for the Holy Grail of Highland soccer, the league title.
Come what may, the confrontation at Grant Street Park, between two on-form sides promises to serve up a cracking 90 minutes for both sets of fans. Academy fans from as far afield as Manchester, are expected to converge on Inverness and cheer their team on, as its 12th man.