Thurso manager tips Invergordon to win North Caledonian League title
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Thurso manager Scott Davidson has tipped Invergordon to lift the North Caledonian League championship, saying they are the best footballing side the Vikings have come up against this season.
Davidson was speaking after the Easter Ross outfit ran out 4-0 winners over bottom-of-the-table Thurso at the Naver all-weather pitch on Saturday.
The result kept Invergordon level on points with the league leaders and reigning champions Loch Ness, with Gary Campbell’s team having a game in hand.
“I would say they are the favourites to go on and win the league," Davidson said.
"They are certainly the best footballing side that we've played all season. They're well drilled, their team very rarely changes, they're a well-organised team.
“I said to the boys afterwards I maybe set us up wrong to begin with, formation-wise. We lost Jordan Howden to an injury again quite early on – he had just come back and he got injured – so that forced me into a change of shape.
“To be honest, once we changed our shape the game was a lot more even, albeit it was sort of beyond us by that stage. We'd conceded two cheap goals and then a third goal in the first half, so that killed the game, but we certainly made it difficult for them for maybe 60 or 70 minutes.
“It was a 4-0 defeat but there were positives to take out of it.
“The weather in between Christmas and New Year restricted us to not being able to do much training so you could tell that maybe we were a wee bit off the pace, and we had a lot of boys saying they were ill, so it was a bad time to play the best team in the league."
Invergordon grabbed an early lead after a scramble in the penalty box that was credited as an own goal. Jordan Knight and Blair Morrison extended the lead in the first half, with Bradi Hulme adding the fourth late on.
Thurso are off to Inverness this weekend to take on eighth-placed Clachnacuddin “A”. The teams drew 3-3 when they met at the Dammies in November.
Andrew Brims, Andy Hardwick and Liam Bain got Thurso's goals that day, with Scott MacIver, Finlay Mackenzie and Ross Gordon scoring for Clach.
Davidson said: “We squandered the opportunity to get three points against them when we played them at home. We'll be looking to try and make amends for that result and get three points down there.
“We were 3-1 up and then conceded a goal just before half-time, and that changed the whole dynamic of the game.
“We know that we are capable of scoring goals against them. I think there will be tight games throughout the rest of the season.”
North Caledonian League results: Alness United 2, Golspie Sutherland 6; Fort William 4, Bonar Bridge 1; Inverness Athletic 2, Orkney 0; Loch Ness 3, Halkirk United 0; St Duthus 3, Clachnacuddin "A" 2; Thurso 0, Invergordon 4.
North Caledonian League fixtures for Saturday, January 13: Bonar Bridge v Golspie Sutherland; Clachnacuddin "A" v Thurso v (1pm); Fort William v Alness United; Halkirk United v Inverness Athletic (1pm); Loch Ness v Orkney; St Duthus v Invergordon.
