Skye Camanachd - Camanachd Cup Winners 1990 – Part 4. | |
31 May 2010 12 May 1990 Camanachd Cup Semi Final Skye Camanachd 4 Fort William 2 (aet) This game had everything. Goals, extra time, a missed penalty, 3 disallowed goals, a sending off, controversy over a goal judge decision, but most important of all, Skye won through to their first Camanachd Cup Final. Fort William started the match looking like they meant business and they immediately put the Skye goal under pressure. Victor Smith looked to have scored direct from a shy but the goal judge ruled that the ball had entered the goal through the side netting. Duncan MacDougall was booked by referee Brian Davis after only 8 minutes meaning that one wrong move over the next 112 minutes would result in an early bath. Fort William had 2 more “goals” disallowed – one for offside and one which the goal judge ruled had hit the post and not crossed the line. Bodach MacKenzie in the Skye goal saved well from Smith and a full 40 minutes passed before Skye won their first corner. It wasn’t all Fort William though as John MacRae and Willie Cowie worked the Fort William defence when they had the ball. Skye enjoyed more possession as the first half drew to a close and just when it looked as though the half would end goalless, a piece of individual brilliance from Peter Gordon gave Skye the lead when he fired an unstoppable first time 30 yard past Graham MacMillan and into the back of the net. Skye took heart from this advantage and they opened the second half on the attack. Fort keeper MacMillan had to look lively as he saved well from both Andy MacLean and Peter Gordon in quick succession. It was then Skye’s turn to have a strike chalked off when a Calum Murchison “goal” was disallowed for an earlier infringement. After 58 minutes, Murchison battled for possession and sent the ball across the face of the goal where it was dummied by John MacRae and Willie Cowie nipped in to crash a low hard shot into the net. Skye captain Caley MacLean was the next player to find himself into referee Davis’s book as Fort William fought back. Deek Cameron missed a great chance when he fired over after 70 minutes but a minute later Victor Smith did find the net from a tight angle to make it 2-1 and it was clear that this game was going down to the wire. MacMillan then saved well from a Willie Cowie rocket shot and shortly after Drew McNeill became the first Fort William player to be booked. This mattered little a couple of minutes later when Cameron levelled the game at two each. The advantage swung Fort William’s way when Skye forward John MacRae was sent off for comments made to a goal judge. MacRae had not even been booked in the game and the controversy increased when it was later reported that the goal judge in question was listening to the commentary of a football match on his personal radio during the game. Incidentally, when the case was later reviewed by the Camanachd Association Disciplinary Committee, MacRae received no punishment. Skye held on though and just when it looked as if the match was set for extra time, referee Davis spotted and infringement in the Skye penalty area and awarded Fort William a penalty. The Skye support could barely watch and Fort’s Willie MacDonald was entrusted with the chance to put his team in the Camanachd Cup Final. Although MacDonald hit the ball well enough, Bodach MacKenzie produced the save of a lifetime, high above his head, to divert the shot to safety and to take the match to extra time. The West Highland Free Press commented “The half hour that followed was a story of supreme fitness and commitment on the part of the remaining 11 Skyemen as they lifted their game for a last all-out effort.” Peter Gordon and Willie Cowie hit shots over the bar as Skye laid siege on the Fort William goal. Calum Murchison sent a shot just past the post and a Peter Gordon drive was deflected for a corner. Two minutes from the extra time interval, Fort William succumbed to the intense Skye pressure. Andy MacLean delivered a corner from the right which found Willie Cowie in space on the far side of goal and he drove the ball low and hard past MacMillan in the Fort William goal. The Skye support were ecstatic and their cheers had barely died down when a quick Skye break saw Willie Cowie and Calum Murchison two on two with the Fort defence. Cowie timed the move to perfection; carrying the ball forward before drawing Fort full back Asti Cameron and releasing a perfectly weighted pass to Murchison who blasted a shot high into the far corner of the net. Fort William had nothing to lose now and in the second period of extra time and they threw everything at the Skye defence. Even Cowie and Gordon were forced to help out the Skye backline. However both players still managed to find the time to come close to extending Skye’s lead. Bodach Mackenzie in the Skye goal saved well from a Drew McNeill and that was the closest Fort came to getting back into the game. The final whistle was greeted with scenes of jubilation from the Skye support. This was a terrific Skye performance and the only hope was that they could continue this high standard of performance for one more game – their first ever Camanachd Cup Final. |