Skye Camanachd 5 Kingussie 1 | |
11 July 2012 The Skye Camanachd second team has a 5-1 Marine Harvest North Division 2 win over Kingussie at Pairc nan Laoch, Portree on Saturday 7 July 2012. Work commitments meant Skye manager Murdo Morrison was unable to attend the game so Donnie Martin looked after the team. Morrison named a 17 man squad for the game and he made four changes to the 15 man squad which lost to Lovat in their last outing. Andrew Banks, Ally “Cloudy” MacLeod, Iain “Spod” MacLeod and Angie MacPherson drop out of the squad. However Allan MacKinnon, Chris Rose, Alan Palmer, Alasdair Connor, Ally “Spod” MacLeod, Chris MacLennan were all included. Kingussie manager Michael Falconer started at full forward and his under-strength side were minus the talents of Savio Genini, Rory Fraser, Hamish Anderson, Rory MacGregor and John Gibson amongst others. However he was able to call on the experienced Michael Clark at buckshee back and Greg MacRae started at full centre; his first appearance since an ankle injury against Lochside Rovers earlier in the season. There was a minute’s silence at the start of the game as a mark respect to Alex Michie who passed away earlier in the week. Skye made a bright start to the game and they took the lead in just 2 minutes when Chris MacLennan won the ball in midfield and fed Alan Palmer. There seemed little danger until Palmer drifted a 25 yard shot over Kingussie keeper Russell Menzies into the net to put Skye 1-0 in front. Kings keeper Russell Menzies made a super save when he tipped a Stewart Grant drive over the bar after 6 minutes. Skye extended their lead on 18 minutes when Chris Rose crossed the ball from the right. Alan Palmer let the ball run and Iain MacLellan saw his initial shot saved by Russell Menzies but MacLellan tucked the rebound into the net to make it 2-0. Skye’s Will Cowie had to come off after receiving a blow to the hand on 20 minutes and John MacKenzie came on in his place. Nathan Grant replaced Jack Anderson for Kingussie after 27 minutes as the visitors look to change their fortunes. Russell Menzies made a good clearance from a dangerous Paul MacKinnon ball into the area on 36 minutes. Nathan Grant played a teasing ball into the Skye goal area on 39 minutes but none of the visiting forwards were able to get on the end of it. The second half was only two minutes old Kingussie took advantage of some hesitancy in the Skye defence to make it 2-1 as Nathan Grant turned a ball from the right into the net following a Ryan MacWilliam shy. Russell Menzies saved well from Iain MacLellan a minute later and Scott MacIntyre had to leave the field with an injury so he was replaced by Lee Riddoch. Moments later, Will Cowie came back into the play for Skye with John MacKenzie coming off. John Angus MacInnes came on in place of Iain MacLellan on 63 minutes and Skye boss Donnie Martin looked to utilise the physical presence of MacInnes in attack and he seemed to unsettle the Kings defence. Chris MacLennan won possession in midfield on 65 minutes and played the ball up the right to Will Cowie. The Skye forward passed to Alan Palmer who nudged himself past his man before sending a 20 yard drive over Menzies shoulder into the net to make it 3-1. Chris Rose collected possession before attacking the Kingussie defence and shooting wide a couple of minutes later. Will Cowie collected a pass from Paul MacKinnon and found John MacInnes on 70 minutes. The Skye full forward turned and shot but Menzies saved with his feet. However Alan Palmer nipped in to put the rebound into the net to complete his hat-trick and make it 4-1. Alasdair Connor came on in place of Ally “Spod” MacLeod for the closing stages of the game. Iain Munro made a terrific save from Chris Hollysong on 75 minutes and the Skye keeper quickly flicked the ball away. Referee Graham Irving awarded Skye a penalty on 78 minutes after a marvelous move from the home side. Chris Rose played the ball to Will Cowie and he found Paul MacKinnon on the overlap. MacKinnon crossed from the right to John Angus MacInnes and he saw his shot saved by keeper Russell Menzies. The rebound fell for Alan Palmer but he was tripped as he was about to shoot and the referee pointed to the spot. David Grant stepped forward to take the spot-hit but his penalty was saved with his feet by Russell Menzies and the ball was cleared for a corner. Skye went 5-1 up on 88 minutes. Alan Palmer found Will Cowie. His shot was charged down by Michael Clark but the ball broke to the right and John Angus MacInnes was quickly onto it and he shot across keeper Menzies into the net. The win ended a run of three league defeats for Skye. Chris Rose controlled the game in midfield for the Islanders whilst Stewart Grant was also excellent through-out the game. Alan Palmer showed that he can make a major contribution in the league and the Strathdearn Cup for the rest of the seasons if his work commitments allow. Skye Camanachd from; Iain Munro, David Grant (captain), Jack Latton, Ally “Spod” MacLeod, Allan MacKinnon, Chris MacLennan, Chris Rose, Stewart Grant, Paul MacKinnon, Iain MacLellan, Will Cowie, Alan Palmer, subs John MacKenzie, John Angus MacInnes, Alasdair Connor, David MacInnes, Magnus Burd Kingussie from; Russell Menzies, Ruairidh Wink, Rory MacKeachan, Scott MacIntyre, Michael Clark, Ryan MacMillan, Greg MacRae, Jake MacPherson, Chris Holleysong, Robert Mabon, Jack Anderson, Michael Falconer, subs Nathan Grant, Lee Riddoch, Kyle Stewart Match Referee – Graham Irving The match balls are sponsored by Nor-Dan |