Skye Camanachd 5 Strathglass 0 | |
04 July 2014 Skye Camanachd made it six Marine Harvest North Division 1 wins out of six as they beat Strathglass 5-0 at Pairc nan Laoch, Portree on Saturday 28 June 2014. Skye Camanachd manager John MacLeod was forced to make four changes to the 17 man squad which beat Inverness 3-1 in the Balliemore Cup semi-final a fortnight earlier. Midfielder Allan MacKinnon served a one match ban for a points accumulation. Injury ruled out Will Cowie whilst Iain MacLeod returned to the second team. Keeper Jamie Gannon was unavailable so Aonghas MacDonald came back into the squad to start in his place. Iain Murray was an injury doubt ahead of the game but he started at full centre. As manager John MacLeod was working, Davie Pringle and Aonghas MacDonald looked after the side. Strathglass boss Callum Duff returned from a holiday abroad in time for this 3pm throw up and he was without the influential George Phimmister. Michael Stokes was late in arriving so he started on the bench with Ewan Fraser promoted in his place. On a warm Portree day, Skye opted to shoot towards the Struan Road end of the ground in the first half. Skye pressured the Strathglass goal from the throw up and the ball was moving quickly off the fiery surface. Skye took the lead after just 4 minutes when Shockie MacLennan collected a long ball from Jordan Murchison and he took a touch to beat marker Ally MacAdams and fired the ball low and firm into the net from a tight angle. Danny Morrison and Shockie MacLennan combined to set up a shooting chance for Jordan Murchison but he put the ball past the post. Skye continued to press and forward Kenny MacLeod and wing centre Kenny Campbell swapped positions. Although Skye enjoyed the majority of the pressure, they didn’t really trouble Stevie MacLachlan in the visiting goal. Danny Morrison crossed for Jordan Murchison who just put the ball the wrong side of the post from the edge of the D on 18 minutes. Ewan Fraser shot wide following a rare Strathglass attack as the game approached the mid-way point of the first half. Skye’s Kenny MacLeod had to leave the field through injury on 26 minutes with Ally “Spod” MacLeod coming on in his place. The home side did eventually double their advantage on the half hour mark when Ally “Spod” MacLeod made space on the left before finding Shockie MacLennan and he turned and sent an angled drive into the corner of the net. Aaron Redpath came off for Strathglass with Michael Stokes taking the field. Skye went 3-0 in front on 33 minutes. Kenny Campbell won possession for Skye before finding Danny Morrison on the right and he played the ball across goal where Ally “Spod” MacLeod threw himself at the ball to tuck in past the on-rushing Stevie MacLachlan. It was an unorthodox finish but it counted and it left Skye in command with just over a third of the game played. Shockie MacLennan shot wide moments later after some nice one-touch shinty opened up the Strath defence. Chris Shankland replaced a limping Robert Geddes for Strathglass with just 3 first half minutes remaining. Robert Geddes returned for Strathglass from the start of the second half. The second half was just a minute old when Robert Geddes got on the end of a Sam Todd shy from the left and his shot was deflected away for a corner. A good first-time effort from Danny Morrison, following a Kenny Campbell corner on the right, was not far off target. Skye defender Neil MacVicar required treatment from home medics Dr Wilson Banks and Helen Gilpin after suffering what looked like a dead leg. Stevie MacLachlan made a good save from a Danny Morrison shot as Skye looked to increase their advantage. Scott Douglass was dispossessed as he tried to dribble to ball out of the Strathglass defence on 56 minutes and a firm drive from Gilleasbuig MacDonald hit the frame of the goal and bounced to safety. Robert Geddes passed up a great chance to pull a goal back for Strathglass when he shot wide following a Michael Stokes free-hit on 62 minutes. Play quickly switched to the other end and Jordan Murchison picked out Danny Morrison with a long pass and he beat Stevie MacLauchlan to the ball and slotted it into the net to make it 4-0 with 63 minutes played. Skye defender Steven Morrison had to leave the field on 75 minutes after being caught by a late Scott Douglas swing of the caman. It was a poor challenge which surprisingly went unpunished. David Grant came on in Morrison’s place. Aonghas MacDonald had to be quick on his feet to clear a Robert Geddes ball into the D on 82 minutes. Aaron Redpath returned in attack for Strathglass in place of Robert Geddes whilst Ally “Cleodi” MacLeod was introduced for Skye with 6 minutes remaining. Kenny Campbell rounded off the win with a deserved goal on 89 minutes. It was a nice move which saw Ally “Cleodi” MacLeod play the ball forward to Shockie MacLennan who switch play to Kenny Campbell on the right and he took a half swing to send the ball into the corner of the net to make it 5-0. Skye’s main concern following this encounter will be the injury to Steven Morrison; especially with so many big matches in the weeks ahead. Chris Rose, Kenny Campbell and Shockie MacLennan were excellent for Skye. Darren Reid and Jono Price were best for Strathglass who remain third in the table. The win takes Skye back to the top of the table after temporarily losing their top-spot when the Newtonmore reserves beat the Kingussie reserves the previous evening. Skye have games in hand on their title rivals. Skye Camanachd from: Aonghas MacDonald; Stevie Morrison, Neil MacVicar, Ally MacDonald, Chris Rose; Kenny Campbell, Iain Murray, Gilleasbuig MacDonald (captain); Jordan Murchison, Danny Morrison, Kenny MacLeod, Shockie MacLennan, subs Ally “Spod” MacLeod, David Grant, Ally “Cleodi” MacLeod, Alan Palmer Strathglass from: Stevie MacLachlan; Ally MacAdams, Donald Fraser, Aaron Redpath, Darren Reid (captain); Sam Todd Scott Douglass, Jono Price; Robert Geddes, Robbie Stokes, Ewan Fraser, Josh Fraser; subs Michael Stokes, Chris Shankland Match Referee – John Matheson Goal Judges – Davie MacVicar, Ross Cowie The match balls were sponsored by Nor-Dan Scorers Skye Camanachd Shockie MacLennan (4, 30) Ally “Spod” MacLeod (33) Danny Morrison (63) Kenny Campbell (89) Strathglass None |