Rothes manager Ross Jack disputes 'offside' Wick Academy goal and aims to lead Speysiders revival after Harmsworth Park draw
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Manager Ross Jack acknowledged that Rothes have “fallen off a cliff” in the first two months of the 2022/23 campaign – but vowed that they will rise again.
He was speaking after the Speysiders earned a 1-1 draw at Wick on Saturday. Ryan McRitchie scored with a towering header in the 73rd minute after Ryan Campbell opened the scoring for Academy four minutes from half-time.
Jack was convinced the Wick goal should have been disallowed by referee Gordon Morrison. Gordon MacNab played the ball across the face of goal and Campbell turned it in from close range.
“I definitely felt it was two points dropped," Jack said. "In terms of possession, we had the lion's share.
“I was very disappointed with their goal. I thought it was a mile offside – the boy was standing on the line.
“I think everybody was stunned. The linesman wasn't up with play. He said the ball was cut back but the boy was on the line.
“Having said that, I thought we were fortunate not to give away a penalty late in the second half, so it evened itself up.”
The Speysiders were forced into a change after only 12 minutes following a clash of heads between team-mates Fraser Robertson and Jack Maley. Robertson had to be replaced, although Maley was able to continue after being patched up.
Jack said: “There was a lot of blood but thankfully nothing serious.
“We settled in after that, and I thought in the second half we had a lot of possession up in their area but we just couldn't finish.”
Rothes finished fifth in the Highland League last season and won the North of Scotland Cup but have yet to get fully into their stride this term.
They were beaten 3-1 by Carnoustie Panmure in the first round of the Scottish Cup the previous weekend, having been knocked out of the North Cup by Clachnacuddin at the semi-final stage, and Saturday's result at Harmsworth Park leaves them 12th in the table.
“It has been a difficult start,” Jack said. “We can't feel sorry for ourselves and we can't blame anyone. We've just got to regroup.
“I said to the boys at the start of the game, we need to start climbing up this cliff that we've just fallen off. We've fallen off from a great height, unfortunately. It has been a tough descent but we'll start climbing again.
“This is a tough place to come and we knew it wasn't going to be easy, especially after our result last week and Wick's fantastic win in the Scottish Cup [5-1 versus Lochee United].
“We just had to dig in. But the way the game was developing in the second half, I definitely thought we did enough to win it.”
Wick manager Gary Manson saw nothing wrong with Campbell's goal.
“Ryan was standing in acres of space in the middle of the goal, all by himself,” Manson said. “Ryan said it wasn't even close to being offside.”
