Honours Even In John Collie Cup Clash | |
16 January 2018 The Red & Blacks and the Whites drew 1-1 as the players from Oban Camanachd, Lochside Rovers and Oban Camanachd U17 took the field in mixed teams to contest The John Collie Cup at Mossfield on Saturday 13 January 2018. Two twelve-side teams lined up for this 1pm throw up although the absentees included Scott McKillop and Chrissie MacMillan who are recovering from injury and Daniel MacCuish who was unavailable. Daniel MacVicar put the Whites ahead on 28 minutes when he sent the ball into the bottom corner of the net from the edge of the D. However they didn’t stay in front for long as Craig MacDougal for the Red & Blacks took a ball from Willie Neilson before bundling it past Cameron Sutherland in the Whites’ goal. It stayed 1-1 until the break and the fact there was no scoring in the second half was mainly down to some bad luck and some terrific goalkeeping from Gavin Stobbart and Cameron Sutherland. Craig MacDougall was unfortunate not to add to his goal as he hit the frame of the goal on at least three occasions. A rocket-shot from Lorne Dickie, from fully 40 yards out, was pulled out of the air with his caman by Gavin Stobbart who also saved well with his leg from Daniel Cameron. Scott MacMillan almost won it for the Red & Blacks near the end. MacMillan was pushed forward from his defensive role, with Willie Neilson dropping back, and his powerful 20 yard shot was brilliantly saved by Cameron Sutherland with the edge of his caman with the ball then deflecting off the crossbar and away to safety. Daniel Sloss had a great game whilst Evan MacLellan had an intriguing tussle with Aidan MacIntyre on the wing. The only down-side was a hand injury on the half hour mark suffered by Callum Kirsop. His cut hand required a hospital visit and left the Red & Blacks a player short for the final hour of the contest. Oban Camanachd manager Iain Hay spoke afterwards, “It was a decent game and a really good work-out for the players. Each team consisted of half the senior side and half the Lochside team and we saw some good performances. We didn’t go to penalties as the draw was a fair result so the teams will share the John Collie Cup this year. We move on now to weekly training and we’ll be testing and monitoring the players’ fitness levels this year. It’s not only important that the boys attend training each week but it’s also vital that they do their own training, especially if they can’t attend the club sessions.” |