Staxigoe boss hits out over no-shows
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A NUMBER of no-shows stacked the odds against Staxigoe and so it proved Pentland United dished out a 7-1 thrashing.
Granted, the CAFA Division One leaders were favourites to win on their Ham Park turf, but Staxigoe are usually no mugs and are capable of beating anyone on their day.
That is if they’re fully staffed, of course, but a number of familiar faces were not on show with manager Andrew Banks earlier in the day frantically ringing round all and sundry to raise a starting eleven.
Such was the desperate situation that Banks himself – a man who hung up his boots a while ago – had to list himself as a substitute, with his assistant Alan Larnach having to dash up the A9 from a business meeting to come on as a half-time sub.
Given the chaos that afflicted Staxigoe, it should come as no surprise that Pentland took full advantage.
Goals from Conor Cormack (2), Sean Campbell (2), Murray Macintosh (2) and James Murray helped the Dunnet men consolidate their position at the top of the table with Staxigoe’s solitary strike coming via Larnach.
Not surprisingly, Banks was fuming at the circumstances that led to his team’s thumping defeat.
He said: “First and foremost, congratulations to Pentland United. They were excellent on the day and full credit to them.
“However, we did gift them four or five of their goals, which was disappointing – but when you’ve a makeshift team out on the park, it is probably not surprising.
“We had a number of call-offs which was even more disappointing. You are left with the feeling that football seems to be more of an option with some boys.
“A couple of boys texted me to say they were ill. Then more texted to say they couldn’t make it. By the end, it got to the point where I was sick of asking why they couldn’t come.
“So I was phoning round trying to raise numbers so we could fulfil this fixture. I had to come out of retirement again. Alan had to drive up from down south to come on as a half-time sub.
“My brother Martin and Marc Cogill both had foot and knee injuries respectively and under normal circumstances they would have been resting those injuries.
“Instead, they had to play and even though their minds were willing, because of the knocks they were carrying, they couldn’t move as freely as they wanted to.
“Because of that, we were effectively playing the league leaders with nine men.
“The guys who didn’t show up not only let me down but they also let down the guys who were prepared to play for us. You can guarantee that if this was a Highland Amateur Cup final, they would show up.”
