A Gary Manson penalty earned Wick victory against Locos, who had three players sent off as they missed out on the chance to move level on points with leaders Buckie Thistle.
Wick boss Tom McKenna said: “Going into this game I’d have been happy with a scrappy three points and win over a quality performance.
“Over the past few weeks our performances have been really good but we’ve needed to transfer that into points gained.
“I’m really chuffed for the players because even before the first sending-off I felt we were the better side.
“As much as we dominated the ball in defence and middle area we lacked quality in front of goal.
“It’s our first win in a month and hopefully it gives us confidence going into the games coming up. When we went ahead it was all about managing the game with an extra player on the park but we weren’t clinical enough in killing the game off.”
The game had survived the heavy rain that accounted for four other league fixtures being called off with Brora v Formartine, Fort William v Huntly, Fraserburgh v Rothes and Turriff v Nairn postponed due to waterlogged pitches.
Wick survived an early penalty appeal when Locos felt the ball had struck the hand of Craig Gunn before Calum Dingwall went close on two occasions as the hosts pushed for the opener.
Without the free scoring Chris Angus in attack, the two-pronged threat of Andy Hunter and Neil Gauld also produced a serious threat.
Wick were awarded a penalty in the second half when Mark Souter upended Jack Halliday in the box and referee Liam Duncan immediately pointed to the spot.
But instead of brandishing the expected yellow card, the referee produced a red.
Wick left-back Gary Manson was a model of calmness as he fired straight down the middle to break the deadlock.
Gordon McNab almost added a second for the Scorries but was denied by Eric Watson’s goal-line intervention.
Another flashpoint arrived in 72 minutes when a challenge from Wick’s Sam Mackay on Jamie Michie inside the penalty area sparked a short period of jostling involving several players. The challenge went unpunished but Michie was shown a double red card for his part in the melee.
There was further drama after the full-time whistle which resulted in Locos striker Neil Gauld being shown a red card.
Locos boss Andy Low said: “Despite all our chances in the first half I still don’t think we played well and over the course of the game we didn’t deserve to win.
“Over the past couple of weeks against Rothes and Fraserburgh we’ve been on the front foot and dictated the pace of the games.
“Regarding the Souter sending-off, I felt a yellow should have been enough if they got a penalty.
“There is only so much I can say on the Michie punishment.
“It’s a stonewall penalty for a two-footed studs up challenge and the reaction from my player is out of frustration and anger.
“I cannot comment on the second red he’s collected but I’ll be disappointed if he’s said something out of lack of discipline.”
