Memory Lane – Season 1986 / 87 – Part 24. | |
12 December 2009 Skye Camanachd headed for Beauly with a number of first team players unavailable so player / manager Calum Murchison was forced to make several changes to his squad. Duncan MacDougall moved to full forward with Murchison taking up the buckshee forward role. Ally “Mhor” Morrison (Kyleakin) was recalled to the first team following some excellent displays for the seconds and he slotted in at wing forward. Andy MacLean came into the senior side for the first time at wing centre and Peter Murchison and Ally Grant came into the team in the wing back positions. Many Skye Camanachd supporters wondered how their team would react following their 9-1 drubbing from Kingussie in the Camanachd Cup in their last outing 2 weeks earlier. However they needn’t have worried. Beauly won the toss and played with the strong wind at their backs in the first half and they attacked Skye from the start. They took the lead on the half hour mark when Calum Bain played in Skye keeper MacLeod was in top form during this period, making several excellent saves to keep his side in the game. This seemed to lift Skye and the Islanders responded with 3 goals in a 10 minute flurry at the end of the first half. First a Calum Murchison free hit gave Duncan MacDougall the chance to bore in on goal. His initial shot was blocked but he applied enough pressure on the Beauly keeper to force the Beauly number 1 to knock the ball into his own net to level the game. Skye were awarded a penalty when the Beauly keeper was adjudged to have kicked the ball. Murchison took responsibility and blasted the ball into the net to give Skye the lead for the first time in the game. Then, 5 minutes before the break, Andy MacLean sent a great ball into the danger area which had the Beauly defence in all sorts of difficulty and MacDougall pounced to net Skye’s third goal. A rousing half time team talk saw Beauly back on the offensive from the start of the second period but the Skye defence stood strong. The visitors secured the points with the goal of the game. It began with some good passing between Andy MacLean and Caley MacLean in midfield which resulted in a ball played forward to Shorty Murchison. The Skye striker tricked his marker by lifting the ball over him and he cracked the dropping ball first time into the net to make it 4-1. This goal seemed to deflate Beauly and Skye finished the stronger side although they were unable to convert their chances into more goals. Skye’s next match was at home to a Kingussie side who had got over their opening day defeat to the Islanders and were fast closing in on the title. Skye would also have to play their remaining home matches at Lochcarron’s Battery Park as Skye & Lochalsh District Council had closed down the King George V Playing Field for a 6 month period in order to carry out some essential pitch maintenance. |