Vikings boss Reid left to rue ref's decisions
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THURSO boss Stevie Reid had a case of the Orkney blues as a number of refereeing decisions marred his side’s North Caledonian League opener last weekend.
The Vikings came away from the reigning champions with, what looked on paper to be, a 2-2 draw.
James Pickles had given Orkney the lead in 25 minutes before James Murray hit back for Thurso on the half-hour.
Chris Hellewell looked to have won it for the home side only for Murray to come to Thurso’s rescue to salvage a point in the last minute.
However, Reid was not impressed with the standard of officiating – in particular a penalty incident which could have seen Thurso back over the Pentland Firth with a win.
He said: “David Hale was clean through on goal and was taken down. He was clearly inside the box and the referee gives a free kick outside it.
“But that’s what happens in Orkney. You ask anyone who has managed a Caithness team playing in Orkney. Decisions are given against you.
“On the face of it, a draw at last season’s champion’s place is a good result but we were a wee bit underwhelmed with it.
“We felt we could have won this one and we certainly had plenty of chances to score more goals than we did – especially the sitter that Conor Cormack missed.
“We were pretty short in numbers with the likes of Aidan Reid being injured but we have Sean Stewart and Mark Sutherland coming back from Wick Groats next week.”
Halkirk’s start to the season got off to a disappointing start after a 2-0 home defeat to Alness United. Gordon Finlayson was on target for the visitors with his brace.
However, Halkirk boss Gordy Macdonald was not downbeat saying there are signs of encouragement.
He said: “Disappointed with the result but the work rate of every player on our team was second to none.
“Special mentions to our goalie Sean Milligan who pulled off four top saves and our two 18-year-old centre-halves, Aaron McNicol and Craig Kennedy were superb when you think this was the first time they’ve played together.
“We’re optimistic for the season ahead. Last year I was chasing up folk for training sessions. Twelve months on, I had 20 lads show up so the signs are encouraging.”
Elsewhere, two from Aaron Christie and one from Darran Goller earned Invergordon a 3-0 win against Inverness Athletic.
Golspie Sutherland got off to a flying start as strikes from Graham MacNab, Ewan Ross and James Mackay racked up a 3-0 victory over Bunillidh Thistle.
