McElroy takes positives from Orkney defeat as Halkirk United seek revenge over Thurso
Halkirk United manager Ewan McElroy had no complaints about Saturday's 4-1 defeat to in-form Orkney and felt there were plenty of positives to take from the game.
A win for the Anglers would have kept them in second place in the North Caledonian League and allowed them to reduce the gap on leaders Loch Ness, who lost at Golspie. Yet, such is the fiercely competitive nature of the division, the defeat to the islanders combined with other results meant Halkirk dropped to fifth.
Korbyn Cameron gave the visitors an early lead with a great strike, but the islanders were 3-1 up by the half-hour mark with Owen Young scoring twice either side of Jamie Flett's header. Liam Delday completed the scoring in the second half.
"We knew travelling across that it was going to be a really difficult match," McElroy said. "We had a small bundle of boys missing due to Covid, work and injury and knew it was going to be doubly difficult to get anything from the game.
"However, I was still happy with the squad, I was impressed with a couple of boys in particular, and we deserved to take the lead early on.

"I thought we started really well and pressed as a team. We had a couple of really good chances to extend our lead and on another day we could have gone a couple of goals up, and that might have changed the outcome of the game.
"Despite the result there were still plenty of positives. The workrate and chances created will give the boys plenty of encouragement. We can’t complain about the result, Orkney have a talented group and I wouldn’t be surprised if they took all three points against Loch Ness this weekend."
The islanders have now won eight of their last nine games and are up to fourth in the table.
There was an unscheduled overnight stay for the Halkirk squad because of a technical fault with the ferry.
"Unfortunately the boat's generator packed in so we had to stay the night," McElroy said. "Of course it was not ideal but the squad were in good spirits and I think the majority enjoyed their extra night across the water."
Halkirk United will be seeking some measure of revenge for their cup final loss to Thurso when the teams meet on Saturday in the North Caledonian League.
It will be the first Caithness derby since the Vikings lifted the Football Times Cup on penalties after a 2-2 draw in Wick in November. In the earlier league clash, the Anglers ran out 3-0 winners at Morrison Park on the opening day of the season.
Morrison Park will also host this weekend's match as drainage work is being carried out at the Dammies.
"We have a really challenging run-in and the Thurso game will be no different," Halkirk manager Ewan McElroy said.
"They obviously won last time round and will be looking to climb up the table. Both squads know each other well and I expect another close game on Saturday.
"I hope to have a few more boys to pick from this weekend. You always want to get your best team out each week but it’s rarely the case and just part and parcel of football.
"The difficulty is when six or seven boys are all unavailable at the same time.
"Thurso are capable of beating any team, home or away. I was a little surprised they didn't come away with three points at the weekend but I also massively rate the likes of Ben Bruce and James Mackay in the St Duthus team.
"It’s the real positive of the league – you really have no idea who is going to take points off each other and every week there is usually a surprise along the way."
Golspie got themselves back in the title race when they defeated Loch Ness 2-1 at King George V Park. Player/manager Sam Mackay struck the opener with a free kick from wide out on the left midway through the first half.
Loch Ness levelled shortly before the break through an own goal but Liam Bremner restored Golspie's advantage early in the second half.
Bonar Bridge moved up to eighth after a 1-0 win over Nairn County "A" at Migdale courtesy of Bruce Urquhart's first-half goal, while Invergordon won 2-1 against bottom-of-the-table Inverness Athletic.
North Caledonian League fixtures for Saturday: Invergordon v Alness United; Inverness Athletic v Golspie; Orkney v Loch Ness; St Duthus v Nairn County "A" Thurso v Halkirk United (Morrison Park, 1pm).