Keith 2 v Wick Academy 2

MAROONS SQUANDER THREE IN A ROW

Keith had their "wick" well and truly trimmed today.  The Maroons were comfortably heading for their first three in a row league victories for three years with six minutes remaining, only to give away a soft penalty, then concede an unlikely equaliser three minutes into stoppage time.

The Maroons had been the better side for most of the afternoon, but those two lapses proved rather costly.

Due to suspensions and injuries, manager Dean Donaldson had a rather depleted squad at his disposal, but held the upper hand for most of the time.  Craig Macaskill, Michael Selfridge and Cammy Keith all had first half efforts which just failed to find the back of the net.

The second half saw the Maroons come out with the same purpose, and five minutes in, Macaskill saw a shot deflected for a corner.  Two minutes later following yet another corner, Michael Selfridge pounced to slam home his 3rd goal of the season.

The points looked well and truly sewed up with 63 minutes on the clock when wee Macaskill rifled home a low drive.  No VAR here, but following a short discussion between the referee and his stand side assistant Craigie's 3rd goal of the season stood.

Then the wheels started getting a wee bit shoogly when an avoidable penalty was conceded and Gary Manson coolly sent Greg Simpson one way and the ball the other way into the bottom corner.

Even then the home win seemed a safe bet, especially in the 90th minute when Wick's Ross Allan saw red for halting Cammy Keith's progress.  Ah, but disaster struck three minutes into stoppage time when Andy Smith, who had been a star performer, decided to pass back to Simpson, and the alert Jack Henry latched on to ram home an unlikely leveller.

Keith played well for most of the game, but those late lapses took the wind out of their sails.

KEITH - Simpson, Grant, Smith, Thomson, Robertson, Brownie, Macaskill (Scott 90), Yeats (Bolton 68), Keith, Macdonald, Selfridge.  Subs unused - Spink, Dey.

Referee - Mr D Nicolson

Saturday 9th November 2019, KO 3pm
Report by Charlie Simpson