Clinical Thurso Acks punish Castletown as county league gets under way
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Castletown's first match back in the big time ended in disappointment as they went down 3-2 at home to Thurso Acks.
Having won promotion last season, as well as reaching the final of the Colin Macleod Memorial Cup, the green-and-whites were hoping to get their new campaign off to a flying start only to be denied by a clinical Acks side.
Scott Bell gave the visitors the lead before Gavin Henderson got the Back Park faithful cheering with the equaliser.
However, further strikes from Sean Munro and Scott Bell gave Acks the points despite Henderson grabbing a second for Castletown late on.
Castletown club secretary David McGill said: "It's possible that nerves played a part, given the occasion of us playing Division One football again.
"Division One is much more difficult than the second tier. You have to be fitter and quicker.
"The second division is a lot easier and we will probably have to be a bit more streetwise as the season goes on."
Acks boss Murray Coghill was delighted to see his men get off to a winning start.
He said: "Castletown worked hard and made life difficult for us at times.
"However, we never felt under any real pressure as we put in a solid team performance. We kept the ball well, moved it around and took our chances when they came.
"Special mention to the two 15-year-olds who made their debuts. Scott Mowat played the second half at right back and gave an assured performance and Lee Taylor came on in the closing stages. Both are promising young players.
"We've a smaller squad than we had last season so we'll be taking each game as it comes and just enjoying our football."
Last season's runners-up, Pentland United, beat Staxigoe 3-1 at windy Ham Park to get their campaign up and running.
Despite having the wind on their backs in the first half, Pentland could not break their visitors down and supporters were fearful of how they would do when up against the elements.
However, all logic about having a weather advantage was blown away as goals from Conor Cormack (2) and Murray Mackintosh saw off Staxigoe who scored via Martin Banks.
Pentland boss Michael Gray said: "Normally playing against the wind would be considered a disadvantage but the boys played some slick stuff in the second half despite the weather.
"Staxigoe having Danny Coghill sent off before half-time may have helped, of course, but I was really pleased with how we performed after the restart.
"Conor grabbed a couple of goals. We said to him last year to improve on his goalscoring – which he did – and it's good to see he has picked up from where he left off."
Elsewhere in Division One, John O'Groats thumped Thurso Swifts 5-1 thanks to goals from Jimmy Budge (2), Eddie Macgregor (2) and Grant Budge. Swifts replied via Aaron Wilson's penalty.
In Division Two, Wick Thistle set about making amends to their fans for narrowly missing out on promotion last year as Andy Falconer smashed in four goals in a 5-1 victory at Top Joes.
Ross Macleod was also on target for Thistle, while Top Joes' consolation came via Ryan Mcdonald.
Watten bagged three points for themselves as Kevin Macgregor and Ryan Farquhar both netted to give them a 2-0 victory at home to High Ormlie Hotspur.
Darren Mackay's goal secured a 1-0 win for Thurso Pentland at Keiss.
