Goal fest for Groats
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JUST two Caithness sides will line up in the quarter-finals of this year’s Macleod IFA Highland Amateur Cup after the weekend action.
Only Wick Groats prevailed in the four inter-county clashes involving CAFA teams.
Their impressive 5-1 triumph over four-times former cup winners Ness was accompanied by third-round exits for Acks, Castletown and Keiss.
None of the trio produced a goal amongst them to leave Caithness hopes resting with Groats and Pentland United, who edged past county rivals Halkirk.
Graham MacNab scored a hat-trick in Groats’ win over Ness at neutral Contin.
The Wick outfit struggled early on to adapt to the tight pitch and had to soak up long spells of pressure in the opening 20 minutes.
They took the lead against the run of play when Stewart Ross rose to head home Grant MacNab’s corner.
Ness were level within five minutes when a cross caused indecision between Ross and keeper Graeme Williamson and the ball was played back for a Ness forward to score from close in. But Groats retook the lead from another corner when Ross headed across for Graham MacNab to net at the far post.
The aftermath to yet another corner produced the third goal with Kevin Miller feeding Graham MacNab who turned a defender before chipping the keeper.
That took the wind out of Ness’s sails and they were completed deflated when youngster Alan Hughes ran on to Craig Ross’s through-ball to coolly slot past the keeper.
Sub Derek Shearer then played a reverse pass for Graham MacNab to grab his hat-trick.
Pentland United were made to sweat before squeezing through at the expense of Halkirk in Friday evening’s match at Ham Park.
United were 4-0 up against Neil Mackay’s men within 20 minutes en route to an 8-1 win in a recent league match at Halkirk.
But their full squad proved much more difficult to break down this time.
While Lee Allan was by far the busier keeper, Halkirk kept their noses in the frame throughout.
Allan produced several fine stops before keeping out Mark Nichol’s penalty on the hour mark – United’s fourth failure from the spot this season.
Five minutes later, the home men got the only goal of the game.
It proved controversial, with the visitors protesting that James Murray’s angled strike which bounced down off the face of the bar had not crossed the line. Assistant John Arrowsmith was well positioned to give referee John Munro the nod that it had.
A short-handed Acks side were not disgraced in going down 3-0 to Avoch.
After falling behind, the Thurso outfit enjoyed decent spells when Paul Wares and Murray Mackintosh went close to levelling before they conceded twice more in the second period.
Castletown also competed well despite losing 4-0 to Stornoway outfit Carloway at Fortrose.
After conceding on 26 minutes to a Tom Moody header from a corner, Stuart Mackenzie failed to convert a run-in and Gavin Henderson threatened with a raging long-ranger.
Carloway, who lost 4-2 to Castletown in the 2008 tournament, had other chances but MacKenzie missed a ?glorious opportunity to head the Caithness side level.
Carloway grabbed a second around the hour mark when Dan Crossley’s shot deflected in off defender Stuart Florence.
A minute later, the game was up for Ian MacDonald’s men when Murdo Macleod made it 3-0 with an inch-perfect lob. Chris Macleod added a fourth to give a flattering final scoreline.
Keiss were up against it from the start versus Lewis and Harris league leaders Back at Alness.
The CAFA second-division outfit were indebted to young keeper Ryan Bain whose unstinting efforts helped limit the damage to 10-0. Murray Macleod (4) and Fraser Macleod (3) were the main goal-getters.
Skye witnessed a real roller-coaster affair involving local favourites Sleat & Strath and Golspie Sutherland. Nip-and-tuck throughout, the visitors scored late on to prevail 6-5.
Kirkwall Rovers keep alive Orkney’s hopes of landing another cup after they defeated Point 4-2 at Culbokie. Culbokie were meanwhile progressing 4-1 at the home of local rivals Blackrock Rovers.
Quarter-final draw – Avoch v Pentland United; Back v Golspie Sutherland (both July 2); Carloway v Kirkwall Rovers; Culbokie v Wick Groats (both July 9).
