‘There are a lot of tired bodies in there’: Pentland United need to recover for Highland Amateur Cup trip
Pentland United players will undergo a recovery programme ahead of Saturday’s Highland Amateur Cup assignment after their extra-time exertions against Wick Groats in midweek.
The Stabbies played with 10 men for 90 minutes in Tuesday night’s Eain Mackintosh Cup first-round tie at Ham Park, progressing 4-3 on penalties after the match ended 2-2.
United have several injuries to contend with as they prepare for their trip to Culloden to take on Tornagrain in round two of the Highland Amateur Cup. The Dunnet outfit won the competition for a record-extending ninth time last summer.
“There are a lot of tired bodies in there,” co-manager Michael Gray said after the Stabbies’ shootout success brought a hard-fought contest to a close.
“Obviously they’ve got the adrenaline at the moment. I suspect my phone might be quite busy tomorrow with tales of woe.
“We’ll set up a programme for them to give them the best recovery possible for Saturday.”
Tornagrain play in the third tier of the Inverness and district league.
“They’re a new side, they’ve just started up this year, so you have to start at the bottom,” Gray said. “They’ve got several ex-Highland League players.
“It’s going to be a pretty tough ask again for us. We just want to look after ourselves and give the best account that we can.”
The Stabbies met Staxigoe United twice last week, winning 1-0 at home in the league thanks to a Sam Mackay penalty before suffering a 2-1 defeat in their Stannergill Cup semi-final in Wick.
“Last week I felt we didn’t give a very good account of ourselves so we’ve had to shake it up a little bit and we got a bit of a reaction tonight,” Gray said.
Pentland United went ahead on nine minutes when a Sean Campbell corner was headed in by Joe Steven.
Groats levelled after 23 minutes when Stewart Atkins bundled the ball over the line.
Grant Steven was red-carded around the half-hour mark and Groats seized the advantage on 41 minutes when Atkins scored his second of the night, leaping high to beat James More with a close-range header.
James McLean equalised on the stroke of half-time, charging up the left before cutting back onto his right foot and curling the ball beyond Kieran Macleod.
There was no scoring in the second half of the 90, or in extra time.
The first six penalties were all successful – Ross Davidson, Grant Aitkenhead and Jonah Martens for Groats, and James Murray, Ross Allan and Michael Petrie for United.
Darren Sheppard’s effort was saved by More, Andrew Mackay netted to give the home side the advantage, then Conor Farquhar saw his effort strike the outside of a post and go wide.
Gray felt the sending-off had been harsh as he said Steven had pointed at an opposition player and this had been misinterpreted as a grabbing motion.
“They’ve not actually realised what happened,” Gray said. “It’s the shape of his hand and unfortunately he has succumbed to that.”
The co-manager praised the work rate shown by the team.
“They deserve a huge amount of credit,” Gray said. “They never left anything out on the park, they worked really hard, and you could see by the amount of substitutions we had to make that the guys were putting everything into the game. You can’t ask any more than that.
“In both games against Staxigoe we didn’t really click and when things go against us tonight you think, ‘Is this just a continuation?’
“But they knuckled down and you need your bits of luck when you’re down to 10 men, there's no doubt about that.
“I thought they held their shape really well. Wick Groats are a good football team and they’ve got some really potent strikers who test your mettle a lot, so fair play to them for sticking to the task.
“Wick Groats’ first three penalties were absolutely superb and then James makes a fantastic save and that puts us in the box seat when Andrew scores. Then the last one hit the post and on another day it goes inside the post.
Results – Eain Mackintosh Cup, first round: Acks 1, Keiss 2 (after extra time); Pentland United 2, Wick Groats 2 (Pentland United won 4-3 on penalties); Staxigoe United 5, John O’Groats 1; Swifts 1, Castletown 4; Thurso Pentland 0, High Ormlie Hotspur 6; Top Joe’s 0, Halkirk 8; Watten 0, Wick Thistle 3.
Fixtures – Saturday, May 31 – Highland Amateur Cup, second round (3pm kick-off unless otherwise stated): Avoch v Ferry United; Benbecula v High Ormlie Hotspur (Evanton); Dounby Athletic v Kirkwall Thorfinn; Fortrose v Black Rock; Halkirk v Carloway (Culbokie, noon); Inverness Athletic v Fort William Reserves (Culbokie, 3.30pm); Kirkwall Accies v Thurso Acks; Lerwick Spurs v Westside (Helmsdale, 12.30pm); Maryburgh v North West Skye; Tornagrain v Pentland United (Culloden); Watten v Staxigoe United; Whalsay v Portree (Fortrose, 11.30am); Wick Thistle v Inver.
Tuesday, June 3 – Eain Mackintosh Cup, quarter-finals: Castletown v Wick Thistle; Halkirk v Keiss; Pentland United v Staxigoe United; High Ormlie Hotspur v Lybster (all 7.15pm).
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 John O’Groats (5, 1); 8 Keiss (5, 0).
Division Two: 1 Wick Thistle (played 4, points 12); 2 Thurso Pentland (4, 9); 3 Acks (5, 9); 4 Watten (3, 4); 5 Swifts (3, 3); 6 Top Joe’s (4, 0); 7 Halkirk (5, -2). Halkirk deducted six points for playing an ineligible player in two league fixtures.