Wick Groats won’t rush Bremner on return from injury
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Liam Bremner has been “flying” in the first two weeks of the county league season – but the coaching team at Wick Groats are determined to ease him in gently after 20 months out with a broken leg.
The 32-year-old striker was on target in the Caithness AFA champions’ opening 5-1 victory over Lybster and he scored the decisive goal in Tuesday’s 2-1 win against Staxigoe United.
Bremner suffered his injury during the 2022 David Allan Shield final against Castletown.
“It has been a long recovery for him so we’re delighted for him to get back playing,” assistant manager Stewart Ross said. “We’re just being very careful and making sure that we’re looking after him and easing him into it.
“It’s a really difficult balancing act when you’ve got someone like Bremmy who is so keen to get back. We’ve got to protect him, we’ve got to build up his minutes and his confidence and his fitness – but he is flying.
“He is well ahead of where we thought he would be.”
Wick Groats opened the scoring midway through the first half when Jonah Martens raced up the left, cut across a defender and found the net from a tight angle.
They pressed for a second but Staxigoe levelled when Graham MacNab scored from the penalty spot against his former club, having been brought down after a long ball over the top.
“It was a bit of a sickener going in at half-time 1-1,” Ross said. “We didn’t feel that they deserved it, but these things happen.
“They got a lift from that and made a couple of changes. They came into it a wee bit more in the second half.
“We still looked dangerous on the break but we just couldn’t quite get that final pass, we couldn’t get that final shot away.
“Graham had a very good chance to put them 2-1 up and put it over the bar. That was a stroke of luck and it maybe kicked us into action a little bit.
“Bremmy came on with about half an hour to go and gave us a slightly different goal threat. He is a really clever player – he makes good runs, holds onto the ball and links up well.
“Jonah had a really good assist for his goal.”
Wick Groats start their 2024 Highland Amateur Cup campaign with a preliminary round tie against Acks in Thurso on Saturday (kick-off 4pm). Groats were beaten finalists last year.
Ross insists they will be taking nothing for granted against their second division opponents.
He added: “It’s probably a little bit of an inconvenience, to be honest, having to play in the preliminary round.
“But at the same time it gives us a good chance to fully use the squad and give some boys more minutes under their belts.
“It allows us to rotate the squad a wee bit and give other boys a chance to stake a claim for shirts next week.”
