Missed chances take the shine off victory for Vikings
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THURSO 3 - 2 BALINTORE
THE Vikings had to twice come from behind and survive an angst-laden stoppage-time before emerging with all three points from Saturday’s North Caley League encounter.
While the victory was welcome, the manner of its achievement against the bottom-placed side raises questions about whether Thurso will be able to mount a genuine title challenge.
Had they been able to convert just half of the glaring scoring opportunities that came their way, victory would have been assured before the interval.
Their wastefulness, combined with some comic-cut defending, kept Balintore very much in the mix right to the death.
Thurso prevailed thanks to a hat-trick from all-time top scorer Mark Nichol, playing in his final home match before heading off for a year-long spell in Australia.
The Vikings have so far been unable to find a settled formation, with Greg Shearer and Jimmy Budge making their debuts and Stuart Sinclair and Ryan Begg their first starts of the season.
A first-minute defensive glitch gave Budge the chance to make an instant impression when he was played in by Shearer. But he eschewed the chance to shoot in favour of an arguably more difficult pass to Nichol, which missed its mark.
Andrew Cumming’s breenge down the left then gave Michael Petrie a crack at goal, which brushed past the far post.
Home keeper Asa Sinclair was called into action to palm behind a shot from Robbie Murray.
The visitors were playing a high line in defence which paid dividends with a string of offside calls going against over-eager home forwards.
Balintore were gifted the lead on 14 minutes when Stuart Sinclair’s miskick following a corner fell to burly defender Scott Innes who scooped the ball into the net from six yards.
The Vikings laid siege to the visiting goal from the restart with Shearer and Budge combining before Nichol blasted wastefully over.
A mistake from Innes gave Nichol another decent opportunity but his tame shot from the edge of the box gave an easy gather for makeshift keeper Scott Miller.
Petrie netted only to be thwarted by an offside flag before a raging, angled shot from Begg produced a fine stop from Miller.
The keeper then denied Petrie with the latter sending the follow-up into the heavens. On 28 minutes, Budge narrowly missed with an overhead before the striker’s left-foot volley from Petrie’s assist came back off the inside of the left upright.
Thurso drew level on 38 minutes when Budge picked out Nichol who buried a right-foot drive wide of Miller.
The visitors almost reclaimed the lead soon after the restart when Asa Sinclair had to scramble to reach Gus MacDonald’s powerful header.
An edgy start to the second half by the home defence assumed farcical proportions when they committed the football equivalent of hari-kari on 48 minutes.
Martin Sutherland’s pass from wide right of the penalty box was bound for Cumming when the latter appeared to get a shout from his keeper to leave it.
Cumming’s step-over left Andy Durrand with the freedom to control the ball before slipping it into an undefended net.
Tore’s lead lasted for six minutes. Budge’s slide-rule pass allowed Nichol to run through before firing a shot which Miller’s fingertip deflection failed to prevent going in off the right upright.
Shearer then went close before Nichol had another run-in on 73 minutes.
This time he committed Miller before playing the ball across the keeper to Budge. He scored but had the effort chalked off for offside.
What proved the winner was delayed for just four minutes when Nichol latched on to a loose ball 12 yards out before netting with a hook-shot high past Miller.
Subs Chris Wann and Lee Elder went close, as did Nichol, in a bid to make the game safe.
But the home camp was made to suffer an incident-packed four minutes of injury time.
First, sub Paul Wares was needed to head off the line to deny Innes getting his second of the afternoon. Then Sutherland was stationed on the line and somehow stooped to get to his chest to a venomous, angled shot from Liam Rostock.
In the final action, Cummings romped the length of the pitch before fashioning a 25-yard lob which went narrowly over.
Thurso: A. Sinclair, Sutherland, Cumming, Smith, S. Sinclair, MacGregor (Wann 63), Shearer (Elder 63), Begg (Wares 83), Nichol, Budge, Petrie. Subs not used: MacNab and Harrold.
Balintore: Miller, Davis, Metcalfe, Innes, Mackay (Powell 70), R. Murray (Farquhar 70), Durrand, Mailey, MacDonald, Rostock, Clark (Bell 89). Subs not used: A. Murray and Rattenaphitich.
Referee: G. John.
