Beauly 1 Skye Camanachd 0. | |
03 August 2011 Skye Camanachd lost 1-0 to Beauly in their Marine Harvest North Division 1 meeting at Braeview Park on Saturday 16 July 2011. Skye boss Aonghas MacDonald was away playing with the Islanders second team so assistant manager Ross Cowie took the side. Cowie was forced to make six changes to the squad which lost to Lochaber last week. A back injury ruled out Alan Palmer whilst Stewart Grant and Ally MacLeod returned to second team duty. AB Connor and Willie MacRae were both working with manager Aonghas MacDonald the other absentee. However Danny Morrison returned to the 13 man squad after missing the last three matches. Ally MacDonald also returned to the top team whilst second team player John MacKenzie was included for the first time and he was on the bench. Beauly left the experienced Roger Cormack on the bench and Dougie Blaine started at full back. The injured Innes Simpson was still missing for Stephen MacLean’s men. Both defences were on top in the early stages of the game and the conditions under-foot were a little slippy because of a period of heavy rain ahead of the 3pm throw up. Beauly manager Stephen MacLean replaced full forward Jamie MacLennan with Conor Ross after 22 minutes and Ross was immediately involved in the action as he set up Sean Stewart who shot into the Skye side net. The substitute was in the thick of the action again on 25 minutes. Marc McLaughlin slipped the ball to Conor Ross and Ross was allowed to run across the Skye defence before slamming the ball past Michael Nicolson in the Skye goal to put Beauly 1-0 in front. Neither goal was seriously threatened until the closing minutes of the half although Beauly edged the first 45 minutes on pressure. Skye boss Ross Cowie took Darryl Macintosh back to full centre with Iain Murray making a straight swap to the attack as the Islanders tried to control the midfield area. Skye’s best move of the half ended up with Ally MacDonald firing across the face of the Beauly goal on 44 minutes. A 30 yard shot from Beauly’s David MacLean rose just over the Skye crossbar in first half injury time. Skye started strongly in the early minutes of the second half with Danny Morrison and Gilleasbuig MacDonald both forcing smart saves from Beauly keeper Martin Davidson. Beauly also had their moments with Michael Nicolson chesting a dangerous ball from midfield away to safety on 56 minutes and Barrie MacDonald making a great blind-side run 3 minutes later to get on the end of a cross-ball from the right but he shot into the side-net. An Iain Murray shot went just over the junction between post and bar after 62 minutes when Barrie MacDonald shot inches past the Skye goal just moments later. Michael Nicolson made a great reaction save from a deflected Conor Ross shot on 68 minutes. Kerr Gibb collected a huge Neil MacVicar goal hit on 74 minutes and he beat Ross Forbes before sending a good ball to the edge of D to Darryl Macintosh. Martin Davison saved Macintosh’s shot with his feet and although Iain Morrison tried to get on the end of the rebound, the keeper managed to clear the danger. Barrie MacDonald set up Sean Stewart a minute later and his shot went narrowly wide of goal. David MacLean shot just over the Skye crossbar on 80 minutes. Skye manager Ross Cowie pushed defender Iain Nicolson into attack on 82 minutes with Ally MacDonald coming back into defence. Michael Nicolson made a good save with his legs from Jamie MacLennan a minute later and the Skye keeper must have been unsighted when the initial shot was hit. John MacKenzie came on in place of Iain Morrison to make his first team debut for the final 5 minutes. However there was no further scoring so the home side took the points. Skye lost 8-0 to Beauly at the same venue in the Balliemore Cup earlier in the season and the commitment and effort shown by the players in this match was a marked improvement. Neil MacVicar was Skye’s top player whilst Connor Cormack shone for Beauly. Beauly from; Martin Davidson (captain), Dougie Blaine, Neil Rose, Scott MacLeod, Iain Broadhead, Connor Cormack, David MacLean, Barrie MacDonald, Sean Stewart, Ross Forbes, Marc McLaughlin, Jack MacDonald, Jamie MacLennan subs Connor Ross, Jack MacDonald, Roger Cormack, Skye Camanachd from; Michael Nicolson, Neil MacVicar, Andrew Banks, Iain Nicolson, Shockie MacLennan (captain), Gilleasbuig MacDonald, Iain Murray, Kerr Gibb, Darryl Macintosh, Danny Morrison, Iain Morrison, Ally MacDonald sub John MacKenzie Match Referee – Donnie MacRae |