The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Cove turn on style after the break to beat Wick
better off than we were at the end of last season with an opportunity of making it even better with another victory.
“The players deserve all the credit as we were written off by a lot of people before the season started.”
Nairn manager Ronnie Sharp was disappointed with his team’s showing and felt it was a scrappy game throughout.
He said: “To score the opening goal but we lost that momentum by conceding straightaway.
“We saved one of our poorest performances of the season to last.
“It looks like our run of tough games have caught up with us but it was no excuse for the way we passed the ball.
“We had no energy and no commitment and I thought Vale deserved to win.
“We went to sleep twice at the back post for both goals and the most basic job to do is to mark your opponent. We didn’t do it and it cost us dearly, despite being nowhere near our best.
“We now face a tough game against Cove on Tuesday night to finish our season.”
WICK ACADEMY COVERANGERS 1 3
Highland League champions Cove Rangers overturned a 1-0 half-time deficit to defeat Wick Academy 3-1 at Harmsworth Park on Saturday.
Cove manager John Sheran said: “Wick were pretty close to fielding a full-strength side so we were really happy with the performance.
“It was quite windy and we were playing up the hill in the first half so we did well to turn round only 1-0 down.
“In the second half I thought we were totally dominant and ran out comfortable winners in the end.
“We didn’t have many options but to shuffle the pack again due to injuries so we went with the strongest side we could
“In the second half I thought we were totally dominant”
put out and all the played really well.
“We had about seven or eight players missing today but I was really happy with the performance as the team played really well.”
Academy boss Tom McKenna said Cove deserved the victory for a superior second half showing.
He added: “The first half was pretty even but they just seemed to go up a gear in the second half and we couldn’t really cope with them.
“Our lads looked tired and jaded, while Cove have the quality to change the tempo of a game and they were worthy winners.”
Wick opened the scoring in the 24th minute through a superb strike from Sam Mackay.
Cove drew level six minutes after the break when Mitch Megginson notched his 49th goal of the season and Paul McManus fired the visitors ahead four minutes later.
Jonny Smith made the points safe by turning in a Megginson lay-off after 74 minutes. boys