Miller’s hat-trick of headers as Caithness United U16s produce ‘standout performance’
An 8-0 victory over a strong Balloan United team was hailed as the “standout performance of the season so far” for Caithness United in the U16 Highland League.
The young Caithness side produced some scintillating football throughout the 90 minutes at Naver. Coach Steve Bain praised the link-up play through midfield, the rock-steady defence and the goal threat from the forward line.
The Inverness side must have travelled up the A9 in confident mood, knowing that they were level on points with their opponents with a game in hand and were on a good run of form.
Caithness too had shown signs of improvement following a sluggish start to their league campaign, with a couple of clean sheets and a run of comfortable wins in their last four outings.
A sizeable crowd gathered in support of both teams.
Caithness went ahead in the 15th minute when a neat move was clinically finished off by Max Ross. Another 20 minutes of pressure passed before Jamie Steven doubled their lead with a similar type of goal.
Just before half-time Liam Semple powered his way past his marker and hit an unstoppable left-foot strike into the top corner.
It was clear when the second half kicked off there would be no let-up for Balloan, as Caithness had a real drive and purpose to their play.
Early in the second period Cory Miller headed home from close range. Miller doubled his tally 10 minutes later with a bullet header that gave the keeper no chance.
John Mullally then showed excellent technique to strike a half-volley high into the net from outside the box.
In the last 10 minutes Caithness added another two goals. The first came from a fierce strike by Ryan More that the Balloan keeper could only parry, and Riley Gray pounce on the loose ball to score.
From a Gray corner, Miller rose above everyone to complete a headed hat-trick.
Coach Bain said: “That performance has confirmed what myself and my fellow under-16 coaches have been saying for a while, after what we have witnessed in training from this group. A performance of that stature has been coming for a few weeks.
“All credit to our players, as there were some very mature and patient passages of play throughout the game when possession was retained by recycling the ball by going as far back as Kyle Bain in goal when we needed to.
“If we can match those levels in every game we will trouble every team in our league. That was our standout performance of the season thus far.”