Strathglass 2 Skye Camanachd 4. | |
16 August 2009 The return of a couple of familiar faces helped Skye Camanachd to a 4-2 win over Strathglass at Cannich in Marine Harvest North Division 1 on Saturday 15 August 2009. With first team manager Aonghas MacDonald on holiday, former manager Ally Morrison took charge of the Skye team for this vital clash. Skye were also boosted by the return of buckshee forward Somhairle MacDonald following a 5 week holiday in Defender AB Connor was a late addition to the squad and he started on the bench. Strathglass player / manager Garry Reid was without Lee Bain because of work commitments and the injured Lee Fraser. Robert Geddes and Marc MacLauchlan played although both were carrying knocks. This was the first match that Strathglass had played since their Balliemore Cup Final win and there was a minutes silence before the game in memory of former player Scott Bain. Skye started the match well and they took the lead after 14 minutes when Somhairle MacDonald latched onto a John Moir free hit to flick the ball past Stevie MacLaughlan into the net from the edge of the D. Skye were forced to make a change after 20 minutes when a Scott Douglas challenge on Alan Palmer meant that the Skye forward had to leave the field. Ally MacLennan came on in Palmer’s place. The home side responded on 36 minute when the Skye defence failed to clear the ball from a corner and veteran Robert Geddes leveled the game. Strathglass took the lead 6 minutes after the break when a Darren Reid shot sneaked in at the post. However Strathglass found the Skye forwards difficult to deal with and when a Scott Douglas foul resulted in a Skye free hit, Kenny Campbell teed up Dougie Rankin and the Skye forward blasted the ball into the roof of the net to level the match at 2-2. Danny Morrison came on after 65 minutes for the tiring Shockie MacLennan, who had put in an excellent shift at wing centre, and the young forward justified his inclusion 6 minutes later when he reacted first, when MacLaughlan blocked a Somhairle MacDonald effort, to give the Islanders the lead. This was Morrison’s second goal for the first team and it came at a vital time in the game. Skye made the points safe 10 minutes from the end when Somhairle MacDonald dived full stretch to knock a rebound from keeper MacLaughlan into the net. This was a good all round performance from Skye although brothers Gilleasbuig and Somhairle MacDonald made particularly important contributions. The win means that Skye have extended their lead at the top of the table to 3 points over Kilmallie and Caberfeidh. However Kilmallie have 3 games in hand and Cabers 2 games in hand over the league leaders. The match was very well refereed by Jock Matheson.
Skye Camanachd from; Jamie Gannon, Steven Morrison, Iain Nicolson, (AB Connor), John Moir, Jamie MacDonald, Shockie MacLennan, (Danny Morrison), Gilleasbuig MacDonald, Kerr Gibb, Somhairle MacDonald, Kenny Campbell (captain), Alan Palmer, (Ally MacLennan), Dougie Rankin, sub Donnie Campbell, not used |