Wick Academy boss Gary Manson thinks his side are suffering from “a complete lack of self-belief and confidence” following a torrid few weeks.
The Scorries have won just once in 2023 and their past five games have included heavy defeats against some of the Breedon Highland League’s big hitters – namely a 7-1 loss at home to Brora, 6-0 at home reverse to Fraserburgh and 6-0 defeat away at Formartine.
Although they drew 1-1 with Forres between the Brora and Fraserburgh games, a 2-1 loss at home to rock-bottom Strathspey Thistle in midweek hammered home the Harmsworth Park side’s struggles at the moment.
Reflecting on the last few games and his players’ state of mind, Manson said: “It’s really noticeable
“If one goal, or possibly two, goes in, they’re ok – but as soon as a third one goes in (they lose all confidence).
“Take last Saturday at Formartine. We competed really, really well and played good stuff in the first half, and had a couple of really good chances.
“But as soon as the third one went in in the second half, you could see guys were like balloons being deflated.
“I feel sorry for them, because they put a lot of effort in – no one can question that –but when we come up against the top teams, we’re falling short on quality at the moment.”
Although the top sides can blow any of the other teams away if they’re on-song, Manson thinks the loss to Strathspey – whose win at Wick was just their second of the campaign – shows how fragile his team are at this point in the season, having dropped to 16th in the table.
Full time – Wick Academy 1 Strathspey Thistle 2.
— Wick Academy FC (@WickAcademyFC) March 22, 2023
He said: “When you go 1-0 down against the team who are rock-bottom of the league, whatever little confidence you have at that time is going to disappear quite quickly.
“Then we go down to 10 men, again, which is a recurring theme of our games this season.
“Fair play to them (his players), they came out second half and were the better team with 10 men, got an equaliser and looked like the team who were going to go on and win it, and then we’re just hit with a sucker-punch.
“Once that went in they just camped in with their back five and we struggled to create any real chances in the last 15 minutes.”
‘Firefighter’ feeling is ‘wearing thin’ for Manson
Things don’t get any easier for Wick, who head to title-hunting Brechin – who beat the Scorries 3-0 earlier in the campaign – on Saturday.
Manson wholeheartedly believes Wick would be in Highland League’s top-half with their full squad available every week – pointing to the consistency of selection at powerhouse clubs like Brechin, Buckie, Brora and Fraserburgh.
However, the boss has not had this luxury for two or three seasons.
Jack Henry’s double-leg break at Formartine last weekend means he has joined Sean Campbell, Alan Farquhar and Davie Allan in being out long-term.
Joe Anderson – the man sent off against Strathspey – will miss the Brechin trip through suspension, as will Jack Halliday, who is still in Australia.
The manager added: “I feel like a firefighter more than a football manager sometimes and every week there’s something else I’ve got to deal with.
“It’s wearing thin now – but we’ll battle on.”
Manson says Wick will have a squad for Brechin, but it will be “extremely threadbare” and he knows the challenge which lies ahead at Glebe Park.
He said: “It’s not easiest sell to get guys to help me away at Brechin on a Saturday.
“Some boys work weekends, and if they can work the Saturday and get paid handsomely for it, and the alternative is coming down to Brechin, leaving at seven in the morning and getting back at god knows when at night, it’s quite a hard sell.
“But we’ll be ok, we’ll have a squad, but it will be extremely threadbare.
“We need to try to pull off a shock. It will be really difficult, but we are where we are I’m afraid.
“I’d snap your hand off for a boring 0-0 draw and a point right now – there’s no two ways about it.”
Second-placed Brechin, meanwhile, returned to league action on Wednesday night with a 3-0 home win against Nairn County – taking advantage of one of their games in hand to narrow the gap on leaders Buckie to six points.
Brechin boss Andy Kirk expects to have a full squad to choose from this afternoon.
Team news from around the Highland League
Leaders Buckie host Nairn at Victoria Park on Saturday, and Jags boss Graeme Stewart will be missing long-term absentees Kevin Fraser, Sam Morrison and Shaun Wood.
Nairn will have Ross Tokely back, but Matthew Strachan and Andy Greig are out.
Elsewhere, sixth-placed Inverurie Locos welcome Turriff United to Harlaw Park.
The Railwaymen will be without Mark Souter and Cole Anderson through suspension, while Garry Wood and Logan Johnstone are ruled out through injury.
Dean Donaldson’s visitors, buoyed by a 3-1 win over Rothes in midweek, could be without James Chalmers and Rhys Clark, both due to groin strains, with Andy Watt and Rory Brown remaining out long-term.
Keith host Forres Mechanics at Kynoch Park, with Ryan Robertson and Kieran Mooney out for the Maroons.
For Forres, Graham Fraser, Stuart Knight, Robert Donaldson and Lucas Davidson are out, while Kane Davies is a doubt through illness.
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