Inverness 1 Skye Camanachd 4 | |
26 May 2014 Skye Camanachd beat Inverness 4-1 in their Marine Harvest North Division 1 encounter at the Bught Park on Saturday 24 May 2014. Inverness manager Allan MacLeod made two changes from the side which lost 3-1 to Skye in the RBS MacTavish Plate semi final a week earlier. Conor Golabeck was unavailable so Daniel Palombo returned to start at wing centre. A hamstring problem restricted Dougie Rankin to a place on the bench with Michael Price taking over at wing forward. John MacLennan was still missing for the home side but Craig Nicolson was back and started as a substitute. Skye boss John MacLeod was without Neil MacVicar because of injury. Keeper Jamie Gannon also had an injury so assistant manager Aonghas MacDonald took over in goal once more. Skye started as if they meant business and Allan MacKinnon shot wide after just 3 minutes. A Danny Morrison effort also went close a couple of minutes later. Skye got their first shot on target after 6 minutes and Inverness keeper Stuart MacRae had to turn Will Cowie’s shot around the post. On 14 minutes, play was stopped for around 5 minutes when Inverness defender Adam MacMaster suffered an accidental blow to the face. It was later confirmed that he sustained two broken check-bones and required eight stitches. A 20 yard rocket from Will Cowie flew over the bar on 16 minutes. Inverness responded and a long range effort from Daniel Palombo went past the post 3 minutes later. Charlie MacDonald put Inverness ahead on 26 minutes, scoring the first goal against Skye in the league this season. Shockie MacLennan forced a save from Stuart MacRae on 29 minutes as Skye fought to get back on level terms. Skye drew level on 36 minutes and the goal had a touch of fortune when a Will Cowie cross into the Inverness goal area was turned into his own net by Michael Price. A minute later, Skye made their first change when Kenny Campbell came on in place of Jordan Murchison in the forward line. Skye went ahead for the first time in the match just 3 minutes later when Kenny Campbell found some space around the penalty spot and he turned and fired a powerful back-hand shot into the back of the net. A terrific effort from Shockie MacLennan went narrowly past in first half stoppage time. Skye started the second half with a bit of a breeze in their favour and the pattern of play continued as during the first 45 minutes. The second half was just 3 minutes old when a Shockie MacLennan snap-shot went just past the post. Shockie MacLennan has been on a bit of a scoring spree for Skye in recent matches and he was desperately unlucky not to add to his goal count on 51 minutes when he hit the base of the post with MacRae beaten. Skye went 3-1 up on 61 minutes when Danny Morrison lost his marker on the right and he blasted a great shot which flew into the back of the net despite the efforts of Stuart MacRae to keep the ball out. Skye were forced into a reshuffle a minute later. Defender Ally “Spod” MacLeod had to leave the pitch with hand injury so Iain Murray went to wing back. Kenny Campbell moved to wing centre and Gilleasbuig MacDonald switched to full centre with Kenny MacLeod coming on to join the forward line. A Kenny MacLeod effort went narrowly by the post on 67 minutes but the bog forward made no mistake a couple of minutes with a fine shot from 20 yards which made it 4-1. Skye made their final change on 75 minutes with David Grant introduced at full forward and Shockie MacLennan moving back to buckshee back, replacing Chris Rose. With just 8 minutes remaining, David Grant found some space 15 yards from goal, only to see his low shot go a fraction wide of target. Much of Skye’s success so far this season has been built on a solid defence but manager John MacLeod will have been delighted by his forwards who played some great shinty throughout the afternoon. Skye go three points clear at the top of the table following the Kingussie second team’s 4-3 win over Strathglass at the Dell. Inverness from: Stuart MacRae; Zander Grant, Peter Grace, Adam MacMaster, Aaron MacMaster (captain); Daniel Palombo, Innes Simpson, Mark Sproule; Liam Girvan, Scott Watson, Michael Price, Martin Davidson; subs Dougie Rankin, Charlie MacDonald, Craig Nicolson, Allan MacLeod Skye Camanachd from: Aonghas MacDonald; Steven Morrison, Ally MacDonald, Ally “Spod” MacLeod, Chris Rose; Allan MacKinnon, Iain Murray, Gilleasbuig MacDonald (captain); Will Cowie, Jordan Murchison, Danny Morrison, Shockie MacLennan; subs Kenny Campbell, Kenny MacLeod, David Grant Scorers Inverness Charlie MacDonald (26) Skye Camanachd Michael Price (own goal) (36) Kenny Campbell (39) Danny Morrison (61) Kenny MacLeod (69) Match Referee – Archie Ritchie |