Caithness trio have eyes on Highland Amateur Cup prize
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There will be three Caithness teams in the last four of the Highland Amateur Cup as Wick Groats, Pentland United and Staxigoe United all made it through to the semi-finals.
The county was assured of at least one team in the semis with Wick Groats and Castletown facing each other in one of the four quarter-finals played last weekend.
Groats duly saw off their fellow CAFA Division One side 6-1 at Upper Bignold, while Pentland United pulled off a superb result on their travels by knocking out highly fancied Maryburgh 4-1.
However, there was high drama at St George's Park, Thurso, where Staxigoe – having looked dead and buried at 2-0 down with 25 minutes to go – launched a roaring comeback that culminated in a 3-2 win over Shetland side Whitedale with the winner coming in the 87th minute.
They will now face Inverness League side Avoch who beat Sleat & Strath 2-1 thanks to goals from Rhys Shewan and Struan McArthur. Ben Porter netted for Sleat & Strath.
Whitedale had led Staxigoe thanks to goals from Greg Tulloch and Richard Sinclair.
However, Staxigoe boss Andrew Banks then threw on Kyle Sutherland from the bench and he proceeded to terrorise the men from the Northern Isles, bagging two goals with Martin Banks getting the other.
Not surprisingly, Staxigoe's supersub was telling his gaffer afterwards that he should have started the game.
Banks said: "He was not too pleased to begin with when I told him he was on the bench.
"When I put him on, I told him to go out there and prove me wrong – and he did do just that.
"I think he might have said the odd word about starting the game next time round and I probably will.
"Of course it could be a useful tactic to have an angry player coming off the bench determined to prove me wrong, but I don't think I'll push my luck with that.
"With the game itself, I honestly thought we were dead and buried. Whitedale are a very good side and when the second went in I thought that was us.
"However, the lads rallied round and pulled it off – to say I was delighted at the end would be an understatement."
Meanwhile, goals from Sandy Sutherland (2), Graham MacNab, Mark Macadie, Ben Sinclair and Sean Stewart gave Wick Groats victory against Castletown who netted through Martyn Cook.
According to Groats boss Kevin Anderson, the 6-1 scoreline doesn't tell the whole story.
He said: "The score looks convincing but the first half was really tight – Castletown gave us a tough time and the game was well poised with us only 2-1 up.
"At half-time, I just told the boys to keep going and sure enough they managed to wear Castletown down and run away with the second half.
"As for the final four line-up, it just shows how strong football is in Caithness right now.
"When you think the competition began with around 80 teams, for three out of the four teams remaining to be from Caithness reflects well on the game in our county."
Caithness will have at least one team in the final as Wick Groats will face perennial rivals Pentland United who took apart a much-fancied Maryburgh side.
Michael Petrie (2), James Murray and Kyle Innes all hit the target for the Dunnet side who had gone 1-0 down inside the opening minute as Shaun Grant gave Maryburgh the lead.
Pentland boss Michael Gray said: "We were shell-shocked at the start and it took us a good 15 minutes to get ourselves settled into the game.
"Once we equalised we looked more like our old selves and managed to build up some momentum. Once we made it 3-1, the body language of the two teams was a stark contrast to what it was when Maryburgh had scored earlier on.
"It seems inevitable that we should meet Wick Groats again, but I'm sure the boys will remember the joy at winning this competition last year and in order to do that again, you have to beat the good teams to enjoy the big days."
Highland Amateur Cup – semi-final draw
(Ties to be played on Saturday, August 10 at 3pm)
Avoch v Staxigoe United
(At King George V Park, Golspie)
Pentland United v Wick Groats
(At Back Park, Castletown)
