Castletown manager praises quality of Caithness amateur league
Castletown manager Tom McKenna praised the quality of Caithness amateur football after seeing his side slip to a 2-0 defeat to Wick Groats in Caithness AFA Division One.
“It’s a good league,” McKenna said after Monday’s hard-fought encounter at the Upper Bignold. “There’s a lot of quality teams in it, they’re well organised, and there’s a lot of good individuals.
“It has been hard to recruit players to strengthen the squad so we’ve got a small squad this year and then we’ve got injuries on top of that, so it makes it more difficult.
“We want to be quite ambitious this year but unfortunately with injuries and everything we’ve been really unlucky.”
He added: “The boys worked hard and put a good shift in. Regarding their work ethic, we couldn’t ask for any more.

“It was a good, honest performance but we just didn’t have the necessary quality in the final third to really ask any questions of them.”
Three points and a clean sheet made it a satisfactory night’s work for Wick Groats after their Stannergill Cup exit against Swifts on Friday.
Liam Bremner opened the scoring on 51 minutes with a header from a Ben Sinclair corner. Sean Stewart was credited with the second goal, bundling it in from close range in stoppage time.
Wick Groats manager Kevin Anderson said: “We just had to get back to winning ways, regardless of how we did it.
“They’re a good team, Castletown – well organised, a lot of good players. They’re a very stuffy team to play against.
“It was very disappointing last week, so tonight was all about three points and the performance was secondary. But we played well and by the end of the game I thought we could have added another couple.
“Hopefully we can kick on now. There’s lots to play for – the league, two local cups, the Highland Amateur Cup. It was disappointing to go out of the Stannergill Cup, there’s no doubt about it, but you use games like that to spur you on.
“The games are just relentless. But that’s what you have a squad for and we’re all the same, there’s no point in complaining.”
There was a first league start for Max Ross, who has just turned 15. Anderson said: “His deliveries were good, he was lively – he had a great game.”
Castletown have a Stannergill Cup semi-final at home to second division Swifts on Thursday.
“We’ll give them the utmost respect,” McKenna said. “We won’t take anything for granted.
“They’ve beaten Lybster, they’ve beaten Wick Groats, so there’s no way we’re going to go into that game underestimating the opposition.”
Sam Mackay’s first-half penalty allowed Pentland United to maintain their 100 per cent start to the campaign with a 1-0 win against Staxigoe United at Ham Park.
The result ended Staxigoe’s eight-game unbeaten run. Joe Steven was sent off for the Stabbies.
Lybster had a 3-1 victory over John O’Groats at Folke Park. Gary Weir, Bobby Gunn and Donnie Ross scored for Lybster, with Marc Macgregor again on target for JOG.
Goals by William Cannop and Kevin Cairns secured a 2-0 win for High Ormlie Hotspur on their visit to Keiss.
Results – Stannergill Cup, quarter-finals: Castletown 4, John O’Groats 2; Halkirk 0, Pentland United 3; Swifts 1, Wick Groats 0; Staxigoe United 2, High Ormlie Hotspur 1.
Division One: Keiss 0, High Ormlie Hotspur 2; John O’Groats 1, Lybster 3; Pentland United 1, Staxigoe United 0; Wick Groats 2, Castletown 0.
Fixtures – Tuesday, May 20 – Division Two: Halkirk v Watten; Thurso Pentland v Top Joe’s; Wick Thistle v Acks (all 7.15pm).
Thursday, May 22 – Stannergill Cup, semi-final: Castletown v Swifts (7pm).
Friday, May 23 – Stannergill Cup, semi-final: Staxigoe United v Pentland United (7pm).