Boss Cavanagh delighted as stuffy Wick are seen off in seven-goal thriller

WHITEHILL manager Paul Cavanagh is delighted his side are through to the third round of the Scottish Cup after being run close by Highland League opponents Wick Academy in a seven-goal thriller.

Cavanagh, whose players will now face Montrose away in the next round, said: "I am delighted we are in the next round.

"We got in front early on, we then missed a penalty which is one of these things and they got back into the game just before the interval.

"We came firing out the traps at the start of the second half and scored three goals in fifteen minutes, two of the goals were goals you would expect to see at higher level of football.

"I can't put my finger on what happened next - maybe the lads got nervous or excited then we started giving the ball away and giving them possession to easily." Scott Gormley fired Whitehill into the lead when he picked up on a slack clearance by the Wick defence, broke into the box and fired low into the corner of the net.

He had a chance a few minutes later when he broke away and into the box, he was then tripped and awarded a penalty. Gormley stepped up but the keeper saved his spot-kick.

On the half hour mark, Wick were awarded a free kick when Allan Cornett tripped Gary Weir, and Richard Macdie smashed the ball into the top corner leaving the keeper with no chance.

From the start of the second half, Whitehill went on the offensive and Daryl Devlin put them ahead with a penalty kick after Jordan Hall was fouled.

It took only a few minutes for Whitehill to score again. When a Gormley cross found Ross Allum at the back post his powerful shot left Alan Bokas with no chance. Gormley and Devlin then linked up well with a fantastic piece of one-touch play and Devlin smashed the ball past the keeper and into the net to make it four.

Wick were awarded another free-kick on the edge of the box and Macdie stepped up and rocketed a shot into the back of the net. Both teams then created chances to score and, with ten minutes remaining Macdie got his hat-trick when he was played in by David Allan and he slotted the ball past Bejaoui.

Devlin had a chance to get his third goal of the day when and he looked certain to score but Bokas pulled of a terrific save. Wick could have equalised when Weir broke away and his first time powerful effort was saved well by Bejaoui.

This created a worrying final ten minutes for Whitehill but the home side managed to hold on and progress to the next round of the cup.

Welfare boss Cavanagh added: "To be fair to Wick, they have contributed to a cracking cup tie played on a heavy park and they had nothing to lose and they got themselves back into this game with a couple of goals. Even when they scored their goals we were still creating chances to score but we couldn't capitalise on them.

"We had to take off Gormley as he had a knee injury so we are hoping that it is nothing serious.

"We have other important games coming up so when Scott signalled to us he was struggling we had to take him off. Whoever we get in the next round will be a great challenge for us; it's great for a club like ours and it also helps the club financially."

Double scorer Devlin said: "It was a battle out there and we managed to take the lead with Scott's goal. For the second half, we knew we had to pull our socks up and dig in and we did that well, we came out and got three goals in a few minutes. My link up play with Gormley for the goal was superb, we managed to break away and I was played in and I put the laces through it and was delighted when it hit the net.

"All my goals are important but that will be two of the most important of the season. The Scottish Cup is what we love playing in and it's the biggest tournament of the season for us. Whoever we meet in the next round we will be hungry to beat them."

Whitehill Welfare: Bejaoui, Cornett, Morrison, W Kidd, Adamson, Hall, Allum, McGlashan, Gormley, A Kidd, Devlin. Subs: Haldane, Caddow, Taylor, Lunn, Robertson

Wick: Bokas, Sinclair, Manson, Farquhar, Steven, Shearer, Cunningham, Mackay, Allan, Macdie, Weir. Subs: Clark, Gunn, MacLeod, Sutherland, McKiddie.

Whitehill Welfare 4

Wick Academy 3

"To be fair to Wick, they have contributed to a cracking cup tie on a heavy park"

Paul cAVANAGH