‘It would be good to get another one’: Banks targeting more silverware for Staxigoe
Player/manager Martin Banks is targeting more silverware for Staxigoe United after their triumph in the inaugural Stannergill Cup.
Banks’s men emerged with a 2-1 victory over Castletown in a hard-fought final at Back Park on Saturday. It means Staxigoe have won the last two Caithness AFA knockout tournaments, having lifted the David Allan Shield last August.
Staxigoe’s Matthew Aitkenhead got the opener after 26 minutes when he found himself in a pocket of space in front of goal and calmly slotted the ball low past Ewan Grant.
Castletown, backed by a big home support, posed more of a threat in the second half and they deservedly equalised on 72 minutes when Michael Smith burst through and hammered the ball low into the net.
Within a minute, however, Staxigoe grabbed what proved to be the winner. David Cowie crossed from the right and Jack Henry powered in a header at the back post.
This is Banks’s debut season in charge of Staxigoe and he has delivered a trophy at the first attempt. And they have “done it the hard way”, he pointed out.
“When they scored the equaliser I thought their tails would be up but luckily we scored straight after to knock the sting out of the game a bit,” he said.
“If we hadn’t scored that second goal so quickly then I think we might have been in for a different result, but we got there.
“We beat Acks, then High Ormlie, then Pentland United, so we’ve done it the hard way. It was the same when we won the David Allan Shield last year.
“It just shows that on our day we’re good enough to beat anybody.
“We’re definitely a cup team – over the years we seem to pick up the odd cup. We’re still in the Highland Amateur Cup and we’ve still got the David Allan Shield to go, so it would be good to get another one.”
Match-winner Jack Henry said: “It was a battle. We were struggling there in the second half, the formation wasn’t working, it felt very congested.
“But we had a change of formation – that was before we conceded, but thankfully we got a goal right on the back of it.
“Davie Cowie put a good ball in, it looped over the keeper and I was just in the right place at the right time.”
Wick Thistle kept up their promotion push by hitting double figures against Top Joe’s.
Jayden Bremner scored four in the Jags’ 10-0 victory at Ormlie on Friday night, with three of those coming inside the opening half-hour. Also on target were Scott Durrand (2), Aidan Miller, Cory Miller, Connor Davidson and Owen Klimas.
Thistle have collected maximum points from their opening five fixtures in Division Two as they seek an immediate return to the top flight.
Elsewhere on Friday, goals from Tyler Gordon and Max Mackillop gave Watten a 2-0 victory over Thurso Pentland, while Swifts and Halkirk drew 0-0.
Results – Friday – Division Two: Swifts 0, Halkirk 0; Top Joe’s 0, Wick Thistle 10; Watten 2, Thurso Pentland 0.
Saturday – Stannergill Cup final: Castletown 1, Staxigoe United 2.
Sunday – SWF Highlands and Islands League: Orkney 5, Caithness 1.
Fixtures – Tuesday, June 10 – Caithness AFA Division One: Castletown v Lybster; John O’Groats v Staxigoe United; Pentland United v High Ormlie Hotspur; Wick Groats v Keiss (all 7.30pm).
Wednesday, June 11 – Division Two: Acks v Top Joe’s; Wick Thistle v Watten (both 7.30pm). Thursday, June 12 – Division Two: Thurso Pentland v Swifts (7.30pm).
Saturday, June 14 – Highland Amateur Cup, round two: Wick Groats v CK Interiors (1pm; winners at home to Avoch on Saturday, June 21). Archer Shield: Orkney v Caithness.
CAFA standings – Division One: 1 Pentland United (played 6, points 18); 2 High Ormlie Hotspur (6, 15); 3 Wick Groats (6, 13); 4 Lybster (6, 9); 5 Staxigoe United (6, 8); 6 Castletown (6, 3); 7 Keiss (6, 3); 8 John O’Groats (6, 1).
Division Two: 1 Wick Thistle (played 5, points 15); 2 Thurso Pentland (5, 9); 3 Acks (5, 9); 4 Watten (4, 7); 5 Swifts (4, 4); 6 Top Joe’s (5, 0); 7 Halkirk (6, -1). Halkirk deducted six points for playing an ineligible player in two league fixtures.