Skye Camanachd 2 Kingussie 2. | |
28 September 2010 Skye Camanachd picked up a good point following a 2-2 draw with Kingussie at Pairc nan Laoch, Portree in Marine Harvest North Division 2 on Saturday 25 September 2010. Darryl MacIntosh returned to the side after shattering his thumb against Glengarry 8 weeks ago. Captain David Grant was also back in defence and U17 defender Shaun Hedley, U17 midfielder Daniel Morrison and U17 forwards Paul MacKinnon and John Gillies are also back in the squad. Allan MacKinnon’s inclusion gave a boost to the attack. Keeper Michael Nicolson was with the first team so John MacLeod returned in goal. Brothers Stewart Grant and Iain Grant were also on first team duty whilst David Nicolson, Malcolm Moir, player manager MacVicar and youngsters Ian MacPherson and Angie Grant dropped out of the squad. Paul MacKinnon was a late withdrawal so Calum Gibb received a call up. The starting line up contained no fewer than 7 teenagers with a further 2 on the bench and there was a first start for 13 year old William Cowie. Kingussie also had an extremely youthful look with only Michael Clark and substitutes, Norman Dickson and Robbie MacPherson over 20 years of age. It was Kingussie who made the brighter start to the game with veteran Michael Clark at buckshee forward orchestrating proceedings. Despite their early pressure Kingussie failed to trouble Skye keeper John MacLeod with their best effort coming from Clark whose long range drive flew just wide. Skye came close to scoring after 15 minutes when Daniel Morrison found Ally MacDonald on the edge of the penalty area. MacDonald teed up young Will Cowie who’s well struck drive was turned round the post by Kingussie keeper Menzies. The resultant corner came to nothing and Kingussie returned to the offensive with Clark again firing wide. Michael Clark then dropped deep to pick up a Martin Dallas pass and set off on a mazy run right through the heart of the Skye defence and was only denied an opening goal by a goal line clearance from Shaun Hedley. John MacLeod then brought off a superb save from a well struck drive from 13 year old Savio Genini that deflected off Skye defender Scott MacLeod. With Darryl MacIntosh beginning to make his presence felt in midfield Skye were seeing more of the ball in the forward line. As Skye began to threaten Kingussie keeper Menzies had to be alert to turn an Ally MacLeod shot round the post for a corner. The resultant corner was cleared by Rory Wink but only as far as Ally MacLeod whose first time shot flew just over the bar. Martin Dallas then won the ball from the bye hit and went on a surging run at the Skye defence only to be halted by the combined efforts of Neil John Campbell and David Grant. When the ball was knocked clear Brian Mabon picked up the loose ball and sent a lovely weighted cross to the edge of the D. The cross found Gavin Munro who hit a superb half volley past a helpless John MacLeod in the Skye goal despite the close attention of full back David Grant. Skye then enjoyed a fine 5 minute spell in the run up to half time with young Cowie at left wing forward looking sharp. Following a fine exchange of passes with Ally MacDonald, young Cowie fired just over. Kingussie finished the half on the the offensive with Gavin Munro firing just over from a fine cross-field pass from Martin Dallas. The second half started with a period of sustained pressure from Kingussie that saw Skye keeper MacLeod saving from Clark, Mabon and Genini in a 10 minute spell that saw Skye's defence working overtime. However, Skye's fortunes turned with the introduction of Angie MacDonald for Ally MacLeod with just over half an hour remaining. Minutes after the substitution MacIntosh played a superb cross-field pass to Cowie at left wing forward who beat his man before crossing to Ally MacDonald who held off his marker before firing into the far corner of the Kingussie net to make it 1-1. The goal gave Skye a visible lift and from another MacIntosh pass, Ally MacDonald fired just over. As Skye enjoyed their best spell of the match Daniel Morrison played a short pass to Ally MacDonald who superbly wrong footed Clark before playing in Angie MacDonald in the left wing forward position. The big fellow sent a thundering backhand drive into the top left hand corner of the Kingussie net to put Skye 2-1 ahead. With Shaun Hedley feeling unwell, Calum Gibb came on in his place at left wing back for the closing 20 minutes. Kingussie began to reassert themselves in the closing period of the game but found young Gibb in resolute form at right wing back. Skye introduced another of their U17 player John Gillies for Allan MacKinnon for the closing quarter In an effort to grab something from the game Kingussie introduced veteran Robbie MacPherson for Savio Genini for the last 10 minutes. MacPherson was barely on the field when the combined efforts of keeper MacLeod and the post prevented him scoring an equaliser. With barely 3 minutes of time left Kingussie got a deserved equaliser when Michael Clark played in Martin Dallas who ran right through the Skye defence, breaking David Grants tackle, before clipping the ball over MacLeod in the Skye goal despite the keeper getting fingers to the ball. A draw was possibly a fair result in an exciting tussle that provided spells of great shinty but also moments of mediocre shinty. Skye Camanachd from; John MacLeod, David Grant (captain), Neil John Campbell, Shaun Hedley, (Calum Gibb), Scott MacLeod, Daniel Morrison, Darryl MacIntosh, Scott Martin, Allan MacKinnon, (John Giles), Ally MacLeod, (Angie MacDonald), Will Cowie, Ally MacDonald Referee – Robert Morrison The match balls are sponsored by Nor-Dan |