Saturday 24 September
Wick Academy 1 Huntly 2

A goal in either half saw table-toppers Huntly grind out an away win against a battling Wick Academy side writes Grant Turner.

The visitors made changes from last weeks draw with Nairn County with Richie Taylor in for Jerry O'Driscoll in attack and Richard Stainer replacing Ally Reid on the right wing. Alan Redford and Ryszard Gorski came into the squad for injured pair Neil Reid and Martin Fellowes.

With only a minute played, Huntly got off to a great start as Mark Gray made it two goals in three games driving home from the edge of the box after Richie Taylor's assist.
Four minutes later, the ball came loose to Richard Craig only to see his effort turned round the post by Don Macmillan.

Richard Bowman was called into action at the other end diving low to keep out Martin Gunn's long ranger.
The hosts almost levelled shortly after when Jamie MacKenzie headed over from Gary Farquhar's cross.

Gray came close to doubling his tally for the afternoon after receiving a Taylor pass, but Macmillan got across the face of his goal to divert the ball behind for a corner.

With 23 minutes gone, Taylor and Craig combined to release Richard Stainer on the wing. Stainer delivered a cross which Taylor met with an acrobatic bicycle kick which skimmed the crossbar.

Six minutes from the interval, Stainer came close to netting in his first start this term running onto the end of a Levi Stephen through ball and slotting the ball past the advancing Macmillan only for his shot to come back off the post.

Half Time: Wick Academy 0 Huntly 1

Ten minutes into the half, Macmillan did well to turn away a Taylor effort but as the ball came back to the Huntly striker, he was taken down inside the area by Craig Shearer as Referee Eric Robertson awarded a penalty kick. Ross Campbell powered home the spot kick to make it two pens from two attempts this season.

The Scorries pulled one back eight minutes later as veteran Gary Farquhar played the ball through behind the Huntly backline to allow Jamie MacKenzie to slot past Richard Bowman despite appeals of offside from the visiting defence.

In a quick break upfield, Alan Redford set Matty Gairns away through the middle who played a neat ball inside for Taylor to strike a powerful shot high past Macmillan only to see his effort come back off the crossbar.

There was panic for the champions in 74 minutes when Nigel MacKenzie got clear on the left and proceeded to cut the back into the Huntly goalmouth but the Wick attackers were unable to get to the ball in time as the visitors defence cleared upfield.

Sub Graham Green had barely been on the pitch when he burst forward on the right wing and sent the ball through for Gairns who saw his effort smothered by Macmillan in the Academy goalmouth.

All credit to Wick, their players kept up their search for an equaliser as Martin Gunn saw a powerful strike go narrowly over the bar later on.

Huntly's Levi Stephen had created a lot of side chances throughout the game and set up Gary McGowan seven minutes from time but Macmillan came to his sides rescue once again to fingertip McGowan's shot round the post.

Huntly now extend the gap at the top of the table to four minutes going into Saturday's encounter with second placed Cove Rangers who are also unbeaten in this season's league campaign.