Kingussie 8 Skye Camanachd 1. | |
25 April 2010 Skye Camanachd went down 8-1 to a vastly more experienced Kingussie side in their Marine Harvest North Division 2 meeting at the Dell on Saturday 24 April 2010.
Skye Camanachd second team manager Davie MacVicar make 5 changes to the squad which lost to Glenurquhart the previous week. Out of the side were keeper Ross Graham with a hand injury, Scott Martin, Danny Morrison, Willie MacRae and MacVicar himself. They were replaced by Michael Nicolson in goal, for first game for 4 years, along with Ian Morrison, who was back from injury, Ryan Nicolson, Keith MacKenzie and Calum Gibb. Captain and full back David Grant started on the bench as he has a broken bone in his hand and the squad changes forced the Islanders to play some players out of position.
The 12 noon throw up was actually over 30 minutes late in starting as referee David Mitchell was held up in traffic following a road accident on the A9.
Kingussie pressed from the start and their marksman Kevin Thain, who had scored 8 times in his last 2 matches, took an accidental early blow on the nose from his marker Andrew Banks which left him requiring attention. After weathering early Kingussie pressure, Skye took the lead from a flowing move involving all four forwards. Ryan Nicolson slipped the ball to Ally MacDonald who laid it square for Ian Morrison who played it into the path of the onrushing Angie MacDonald. MacDonald sent a delightful backhand drive into the roof of the Kingussie net with only 9 minutes played. The visitors lead lasted only 2 minutes as Kevin Thain set up Martin Dallas who swept the ball past Michael Nicholson in the Skye goal. Kingussie were being driven on by a centre line which included multi Camanachd Cup medallists Michael Clark and James MacLean who were backed up by the indomitable Rory Fraser at buckshee back. Michael Nicolson pulled off a superb save from Kingussie skipper Rory Borthwick, but could do nothing on 23 minutes when the rebound from a Thain shot fell kindly for Dallas to knock the ball into the back of the net and give the home side a 2-1 lead. Skye were not out of it though and Kingussie keeper Menzies pulled of a tidy save from an Ian Morrison grounder. Moments later an Angie MacDonald shot went wide of the Kingussie goal. It was then Skye’s turn to defend and Nicolson saved well from Kingussie’s Kevin Thain. Rory Borthwick made it 3-1 when he shot past Nicolson on 39 minutes and Martin Dallas turned his marker and sent an unstoppable shot past Nicolson on 42 minutes to give the home side a 4-1 interval lead. Skye made promising start to second half but lacked penetration up front. A Martin Dallas goal made it 5-1 on 62 minutes. Kevin Thain scored a fortunate sixth goal a minute later. An attempted clearance from Nicolson came off a Kingussie player and left the full forward with the simplest of tap-ins. Martin Dallas scored the goal of the game in 69 minutes as he waltzed through the Skye defence to slot the ball past Nicolson from close range. Dallas rounded off scoring on 83 minutes as he rounded the prostrate Nicolson following another good save by the Skye keeper. This was the young Kingussie forward’s sixth goal in a man of the match performance. Skye had several chances to score in the second half with Menzies saving well from a long range Keith MacKenzie effort. Ryan Nicolson played in Skye substitute David Grant but his low shot was saved by the keeper. David Grant turned provider when he set up Ryan Nicolson from free hit but keeper Menzies saved again with his feet and cleared the danger. The Skye’s defence had an average age 16 were they not disgraced and but for the lack of a goal scorer and Kingussie’s experience, the scoreline could have been different. Defender Ian Grant was Skye’s best performer and keeper Michael Nicolson made some great saves. The defeat leaves Skye bottom of Marine Harvest North Division 2 with only one point from their opening 6 matches. However they have a break from the league to look forward to next weekend when they play Lewis Camanachd in the Strathdearn Cup. Skye Camanachd from; Michael Nicolson, Andrew Banks, Ian Grant, Shaun Hedley, Martin Bruce, Daniel Morrison, (Calum Gibb), Stewart Grant, Keith MacKenzie, (Ally MacLeod), Angie MacDonald, Ryan Nicolson, Ian Morrison, Ally MacDonald, (David Grant) (captain)
Match Referee – David Mitchell |