Beauly 1 Skye Camanachd 2 | |
12 August 2019 Skye Camanachd came from behind to beat Beauly 2-1 in their Mowi National Division match at Braeview Park on Saturday 10 August 2019. The game was in doubt on Friday evening after the heavy rain over the previous 48 hours which didn’t allow the hosts the opportunity to cut the grass and this made conditions difficult for both teams. Marcus Scott was suspended but Iain Nicolson, Stewart Grant, James Morrison and Ross MacKinnon all returned for Skye for this 2.30pm throw up. Skye, who hadn’t played for three weeks, should have gone ahead in the first few seconds when Jordan Murchison got on the end of a cross but just missed the target from close range. The hitting was poor from both teams during the opening 20 minutes and play flowed from end-to-end with lofted hitting from the two defences. Skye keeper Ryan Morrison made a couple of good saves to keep Beauly at bay whilst home goalie MacKay Murray did well to deny Jordan Murchison and James Pringle. Skye were dealt a blow when Jordan Murchison took the ball past his man to go one-on-one with the keeper but a challenge on him by a defender, with no malice intended, ended Murchison’s afternoon as he suffered a bad leg injury which required a trip to Raigmore Hospital and resulted in him leaving on crutches. Beauly looked the more dangerous during the final 20 minutes of the first half and they took the lead on 37 minutes through a brilliant long-range effort from Jack MacDonald which dropped just under the crossbar. Skye, as they have done in recent visits to Braeview Park, now had to come from behind to win it. Iain Nicolson made his return from injury after a seven-week lay-off. Nicolson took over from Iain MacLellan at half-time and it was a different Skye that came out from the restart when their fitness really showed and they dominated for the majority of the half. MacKay Murray made two really good saves from Ross MacKinnon and Ross Gordon but Skye drew level on 51 minutes when Iain Nicolson latched onto a loose ball that was initially saved by the keeper and he and bundled the ball over the line to make it 1-1. Murray made fantastic saves from Ross Gordon and James Pringle but the Islanders got the winner with 10 minutes remaining. It was a well-worked goal which was finished off nicely by Ross Gordon. Skye could and should have scored a couple more goals late in the match but the win keeps their outside chances of promotion alive. Skye duo William MacKinnon and Martin Pringle were stand-outs from start to finish. Skye Camanachd from: Ryan Morrison; Jamie Gillies, Ally MacDonald, Martin Pringle, William MacKinnon; Ally MacLeod, Will Cowie (captain), Ross MacKinnon; Ross Gordon, Jordan Murchison, Iain MacLellan, James Pringle; subs Iain Nicolson, James Morrison, Stewart Grant Match Referee – Steven MacLachlan Scorers Beauly Jack MacDonald (37) Skye Camanachd Iain Nicolson (51) Ross Gordon (80) |