Post by Brian Mackay on Feb 24, 2010 2:41:21 GMT -5
Thurso 5 Tain Thistle 0 - report by Iain Grant
The Vikings came out of PSG North Caley League cold storage on Saturday to bolster their title challenge with a decisive victory.
Overnight snow showers and a pervasive frost looked set to add the fixture to the unprecedented backlog of fixtures.
But a strong sun, combined with the efforts of a small army of voluntary groundstaff, meant the pitch was eminently playable by kick-off time.
Thurso’s last league game was at the start of December since when they have played two cup-ties and a couple of bounce games.
Some rustiness in their early play may therefore have been excusable.
But they quickly settled and demonstrated a sharpness and accuracy in their passing and incisiveness and imagination in their movement.
Encouraged by Andrew Bremner’s third minute goal, they more than deserved to add to their lead through fellow defender Sean Munro after 28 minutes.
The Vikings then, strangely, went off the boil as Thistle increasingly showed a menace in attack which hitherto had been invisible.
In the 15 minutes before and after the break, the visitors just about monopolised the scoring opportunities with Vikings keeper Michael Gray fully extended to keep his goal intact.
The contest was effectively killed off by Jamie MacKenzie’s goal on the hour mark and he went on to grab another late on after Mark Nichol had made it 4-0 from the penalty spot.
Both the first half goals stemmed from inswinging corners from Lee MacDougall.
Bremner was handily placed to volley home from a half-clearance.
The big central defender looked a good bet to repeat the feat as he rose at the far post to meet MacDougall’s second telling delivery from the right corner-flag. But he was outjumped by Munro whose powerful header bulleted in just inside the junction of the bar and the right upright.
In between the strikes, Tain’s defence was regularly over-stretched though it was aided by a series of promising moves coming to naught because of their opponents’ tendency to stray yards offside.
Before the opener, Tain’s Andrew Murray needed to make a lung-busting interception to prevent Nichol applying the finish to Jamie MacKenzie’s assist.
The latter then profited from Wayne Monkman’s well-timed pass to step inside and fire a shot which produced a body-block from keeper Steve Martin.
The keeper was then relieved when a stinging netbound shot from Munro was deflected behind by defender David Mackay.
After Munro converted the resultant corner, Thurso looked on course for a comfortable win. But the Jags took advantage of a lengthy collective time-out by their opponents to mount a mini-offensive.
The unease in the home ranks was mirrored in Gary MacGregor’s 32nd minute booking after his foul on Kyle Oliver just outside Thurso’s penalty box was deemed one too many by ref Graham Elder.
Paul Cowie’s quickly-taken free-kick whizzed narrowly wide.
Minutes later, Gray seemed slow to react to a 25 yard snap-shot from Kyle Oliver but he was able to get down to divert the ball past his left post.
The keeper was far more assured in holding another effort from distance from the industrious Martin Farquhar just before the interval.
Thurso would have added to their lead four minutes after the turnaround when Munro’s pace took him clear on goal.
His ill-advised early strike had as much pith as a pass-back and was easily gathered by Martin.
Tain continued to show attacking intent and passed up a glorious chance to half the deficit on 57 minutes.
Andrew Durrand broke down the right and presented Russell Lawrie with a clear view off goal.
He however failed to connect properly and Gray was able to smother his weak attempt.
Thurso’s third stemmed from clever inter-play by Nigel Mackenzie and MacDougall down the left flank.
It allowed MacDougall time and space to pick out the unmarked Jamie MacKenzie who headed in at the far post.
A minute later, Jamie MacKenzie was put in the clear by sub Michael Petrie only to be floored by Martin after he stepped past the keeper.
The Thurso man tried to stay up but had lost his balance and shot wide of the open goal.
Ref Elder was content the offence merited just a booking for the keeper who was then beaten from the spot by Nichol.
Jamie MacKenzie was then foiled by Martin before Gray was need to pull off full-stretch saves from Kyle Oliver and sub Darren Oliver.
Bremner’s inability to cut out a high ball left Lawrie racing in towards Gray only for central defender Grant Steven to scamper back to pull off a perfectly-timed challenge.
Nigel MacKenzie was then foiled by Martin before he set up his brother Jamie for the fifth goal three minutes from time.
His first effort was beaten out by Martin but he was able to steer home the close-range rebound.
Kyle Oliver’s injury-time tangle with Petrie led to him being shown the third yellow card of the afternoon.
Thurso manager Stevie Reid was delighted to get back in action after the recent dearth of games.
“It was great to get up and running again,” he said.
“We got off to a decent start but they came back strongly in the last 15 minutes of the first half when Michael made a couple of really good saves.
“They kept a fairly high defensive line which made it difficult for us but I thought we were a sharper in the second half and the third goal really killed them off.”
Thurso – Gray, Stewart, Munro (Petrie 58), Steven, Bremner, MacGregor (Sutherland 66), N. MacKenzie, Monkman (Begg 81), Nichol, J. MacKenzie, MacDougall. Subs (unused) – Sutherland and Robertson.
Tain Thistle – Martin, Sutherland, Farquhar, Mailley, Mackay, Durrand, Murray, Cowie (D. Oliver 64), Lawrie, K. Oliver, Smith.
Ref – Mr G. Elder.
The Vikings came out of PSG North Caley League cold storage on Saturday to bolster their title challenge with a decisive victory.
Overnight snow showers and a pervasive frost looked set to add the fixture to the unprecedented backlog of fixtures.
But a strong sun, combined with the efforts of a small army of voluntary groundstaff, meant the pitch was eminently playable by kick-off time.
Thurso’s last league game was at the start of December since when they have played two cup-ties and a couple of bounce games.
Some rustiness in their early play may therefore have been excusable.
But they quickly settled and demonstrated a sharpness and accuracy in their passing and incisiveness and imagination in their movement.
Encouraged by Andrew Bremner’s third minute goal, they more than deserved to add to their lead through fellow defender Sean Munro after 28 minutes.
The Vikings then, strangely, went off the boil as Thistle increasingly showed a menace in attack which hitherto had been invisible.
In the 15 minutes before and after the break, the visitors just about monopolised the scoring opportunities with Vikings keeper Michael Gray fully extended to keep his goal intact.
The contest was effectively killed off by Jamie MacKenzie’s goal on the hour mark and he went on to grab another late on after Mark Nichol had made it 4-0 from the penalty spot.
Both the first half goals stemmed from inswinging corners from Lee MacDougall.
Bremner was handily placed to volley home from a half-clearance.
The big central defender looked a good bet to repeat the feat as he rose at the far post to meet MacDougall’s second telling delivery from the right corner-flag. But he was outjumped by Munro whose powerful header bulleted in just inside the junction of the bar and the right upright.
In between the strikes, Tain’s defence was regularly over-stretched though it was aided by a series of promising moves coming to naught because of their opponents’ tendency to stray yards offside.
Before the opener, Tain’s Andrew Murray needed to make a lung-busting interception to prevent Nichol applying the finish to Jamie MacKenzie’s assist.
The latter then profited from Wayne Monkman’s well-timed pass to step inside and fire a shot which produced a body-block from keeper Steve Martin.
The keeper was then relieved when a stinging netbound shot from Munro was deflected behind by defender David Mackay.
After Munro converted the resultant corner, Thurso looked on course for a comfortable win. But the Jags took advantage of a lengthy collective time-out by their opponents to mount a mini-offensive.
The unease in the home ranks was mirrored in Gary MacGregor’s 32nd minute booking after his foul on Kyle Oliver just outside Thurso’s penalty box was deemed one too many by ref Graham Elder.
Paul Cowie’s quickly-taken free-kick whizzed narrowly wide.
Minutes later, Gray seemed slow to react to a 25 yard snap-shot from Kyle Oliver but he was able to get down to divert the ball past his left post.
The keeper was far more assured in holding another effort from distance from the industrious Martin Farquhar just before the interval.
Thurso would have added to their lead four minutes after the turnaround when Munro’s pace took him clear on goal.
His ill-advised early strike had as much pith as a pass-back and was easily gathered by Martin.
Tain continued to show attacking intent and passed up a glorious chance to half the deficit on 57 minutes.
Andrew Durrand broke down the right and presented Russell Lawrie with a clear view off goal.
He however failed to connect properly and Gray was able to smother his weak attempt.
Thurso’s third stemmed from clever inter-play by Nigel Mackenzie and MacDougall down the left flank.
It allowed MacDougall time and space to pick out the unmarked Jamie MacKenzie who headed in at the far post.
A minute later, Jamie MacKenzie was put in the clear by sub Michael Petrie only to be floored by Martin after he stepped past the keeper.
The Thurso man tried to stay up but had lost his balance and shot wide of the open goal.
Ref Elder was content the offence merited just a booking for the keeper who was then beaten from the spot by Nichol.
Jamie MacKenzie was then foiled by Martin before Gray was need to pull off full-stretch saves from Kyle Oliver and sub Darren Oliver.
Bremner’s inability to cut out a high ball left Lawrie racing in towards Gray only for central defender Grant Steven to scamper back to pull off a perfectly-timed challenge.
Nigel MacKenzie was then foiled by Martin before he set up his brother Jamie for the fifth goal three minutes from time.
His first effort was beaten out by Martin but he was able to steer home the close-range rebound.
Kyle Oliver’s injury-time tangle with Petrie led to him being shown the third yellow card of the afternoon.
Thurso manager Stevie Reid was delighted to get back in action after the recent dearth of games.
“It was great to get up and running again,” he said.
“We got off to a decent start but they came back strongly in the last 15 minutes of the first half when Michael made a couple of really good saves.
“They kept a fairly high defensive line which made it difficult for us but I thought we were a sharper in the second half and the third goal really killed them off.”
Thurso – Gray, Stewart, Munro (Petrie 58), Steven, Bremner, MacGregor (Sutherland 66), N. MacKenzie, Monkman (Begg 81), Nichol, J. MacKenzie, MacDougall. Subs (unused) – Sutherland and Robertson.
Tain Thistle – Martin, Sutherland, Farquhar, Mailley, Mackay, Durrand, Murray, Cowie (D. Oliver 64), Lawrie, K. Oliver, Smith.
Ref – Mr G. Elder.