The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Wilson fires hat-trick as Rothes demolish struggling Strathspey
Rothes romped to a 7-0 victory over a luckless Strathspey Thistle outfit who have also shipped seven goals against Banks o’ Dee and Deveronvale in recent weeks.
Speysiders’ boss Ross Jack was particularly pleased with a hat-trick for striker Aidan Wilson.
He said: “Aidan scored three great goals and Gary Kerr notched a double, so it was pleasing all round.
“We could have scored quite a few more goals, but I thought our attitude was first class throughout on a bobbly surface.
“Ian MacKenzie made a great double save in the first half and pulled off another great diving save in the second half, so to keep another clean sheet is equally pleasing.”
Rothes took the lead with 60 seconds on the clock when Ally MacKenzie crossed from the left and Fraser Robertson rammed the ball home from six yards.
Rothes doubled their lead in the 10th minute. Jack Maley’s corner picked out Bruce Milne and his downward header gave Oliver Kelly in the Jags’ goal no chance.
It was 3-0 in the 21st minute when the Strathspey defence failed to cut out a long ball from Ben Johnstone and Wilson ran on to drive the ball home from 10 yards.
On the half-hour mark,
Rothes made it 4-0 when another in-swinging corner was met by Kerr and the ball flew into the back of the net.
At the other end, Rothes keeper MacKenzie did brilliantly to save a point-blank David Ross drive from reducing the leeway.
Nine minutes after the restart Rothes made it 5-0 when Alan Pollock’s cross found Kerr unmarked in the six-yard box and he nodded the ball past the helpless Kelly.
Wilson grabbed his own second of the afternoon and Rothes’ sixth goal in the 70th minute when Greg Morrison’s deep cross gave the former Clach striker the simplest of tasks to nod home from six yards.
Two minutes from time, home keeper Kelly brought down Rothes substitute Jake Thomson in full flight in the box and Wilson drilled home the resultant spot kick to complete his hat-trick.
Strathspey manager Charlie Brown said: “We set out our game plan and within a minute we found ourselves a goal down. That was very frustrating.
“I’ve just spoken to the lads and told them they need to learn quickly. We seem to be losing a lot of goals from balls coming into the box so we need to address that again.”