HOMING IN ON A SHOCK
Raploch’s Connelly plotting a Wick win on his Cup return to Stirling
Wick Academy manager Gordon Connelly is aiming to pull off a Scottish Cup shock against his hometown club Stirling Albion at Forthbank on Saturday.
The Scorries boss hails from the Raploch but has spent most of his career in the Highlands, playing more than 300 games for Ross County, who he joined from Dunfermline.
He was assistant to Barry Wilson at Wick before taking over the reins in February 2014 and has guided the team to wins over Dalbeattie Star and Whitehill Welfare to set up an intriguing tie at Forthbank, with the prize of a potentially lucrative fourth-round fixture on January 21 at stake.
Connelly said: “We are massive underdogs but we are used to playing senior teams in pre-season games. I managed to take in last Saturday’s game at Stirling and we know it’s a big task, but we are looking forward to it. I was there to the end and I thought Stirling deserved the draw.
“We were disappointed our game (away to Turriff United) was off because we wanted to keep the momentum going into Saturday’s match but it’s minus three and four up here at the moment and there’s not much you can do about the weather so even training is an issue.
“We train twice a week. I go up once a week because I’m based just outside Dingwall and it’s a 200- mile round trip — and I have coaches who do the other night. We had a good start to this season and then fell away a bit but we have picked up of late so fingers crossed it’s coming at the right time.”
Wick have played just twice since beating Whitehill 4-1 in the previous round of the Scottish Cup, thrashing Rothes 9-0 away from home then beating Keith 3-1 at Harmsworth Park. They are fifth in the Highland League, behind Buckie Thistle, Brora Rangers, Cove Rangers and Formartine United.
Connelly, whose side reached this stage last year before losing to Linlithgow in a midweek replay, added: “We’ll prepare properly — we’ll leave on Friday and stay overnight in Inverness then we have a pre-match planned in Auchterarder on Saturday.
“Stirling Albion have a great set- to another trip home. “I’m a Raploch man and my whole family still live there. I get down as much as I can and enjoyed my stay at the weekend,” he said. “A lot of them are going to hospitality on Saturday but I’ve not managed to persuade them all to be Wick supporters for the day!
“We look like we are going to take three or four buses down, so there should be a good atmosphere. Our average crowd is between 500 and 600 — we are well supported. It might sound strange but it’s not a long journey for us because the supporters are used to five and sixhour trips every second week in the Highland League.
“In terms of the players, it’s a local team we have — we have one lad from Orkney who gets the ferry over every Friday or Saturday morning but, apart from that, they are all Caithness lads. They have been together for several years, so they all know each other well.”
My family will be there, but I haven’t managed to make them all Wick fans!