A last minute goal from Lossiemouth captain Liam Archibald saw his side record a dramatic 2-1 victory over Wick Academy.
Wick will have been to rue their inability to beat home keeper Logan Ross on numerous occasions especially during the second half. The on-loan Ross County youngster made four brilliant stops to deny Gordon MacNab – twice, Ross Stuart and Alan Hughes, while Dean Stewart also cleared off his own line when the keeper was helpless to stop a Hughes effort.
Lossie had gone ahead on 19 minutes when Brodie Allen fired into the bottom corner of Graeme Williamson’s goal from 14 yards after his initial effort hit the post.
Wick levelled through a MacNab diving header after 51 minutes, following a well-worked free-kick involving Ross Allan and Jack Halliday, and looked favourites to go and win the game.
But Ross produced save after save and, with time running out, Fraser Forbes broke down the right to fire the ball across goal, where Archibald provided the final touch at the far post to see Lossie claim the points.
Lossie manager Joe Russell acknowledged his side didn’t play well, but thought they dug deep to get the win after they had lost a late goal last week against Huntly after playing well on that occasion.
He said “Logan Ross produced some cracking saves and the lads’ win bonus is due mainly to him, while Fraser Forbes also played his part when he came on to set up the winner. Now it is onwards and upwards for us.”
Wick manager Gary Manson couldn’t believe his side had lost the game, saying his side dominated practically the whole 90 minutes.
He said “To create the vast majority of the chances and then get hit with a sucker punch right at the end is disappointing and it is hard to come back once that happened.
“The keeper was the difference between the teams and we seem to be coming up against goalies that are in good form, while we are not getting any breaks.”
Wick also lost influential defender Alan Farquhar with what looks like a bad knee injury, hardly what Manson needs ahead of his side’s midweek North of Scotland Cup clash with Brora.
