Post by Brian Mackay on Sept 11, 2005 13:17:59 GMT -5
Thurso 3 Alness 3 - report by Iain Grant
Last year's top two in the MSIS North Caley League shared the spoils on Saturday in a match of fluctuating fortunes in which the result was in doubt right to the end.
The visitors recovered from the loss of an early goal to go in 2-1 ahead at the interval. After the Vikings equalised, the game swung their way when they snatched the lead a couple of minutes after Ross Jack failed from the penalty spot.
But Alness came back to net a late equaliser from their hat-trick hero David Chapman.
Manager Colin Chessor, in his first game in charge, made six changs to the starting line-up who went down 3-0 in their opening fixture at Balintore.
His side made a lighting start with Alan Murray testing keper Grant Robertson with a right-foot strike before shooting his side into a fourth minute lead.
Alness defender Colin Doull was at fault as last year's top scorer in the league opened his account with a crisp near-post finish.
A glut of goalmouth action then saw Mark Makhouli make Robertson work to save a decent effort before Jack went close with a head-flick from a corner.
Thurso keeper James More pulled off his first stop on 10 minutes when Brendan McGarvey was left unmarked to try his luck with a powerful header.
Both defences looked vulerable as chances continued to be created at both ends. Robertson required two goes at keeping out a 25 yarder from Gavin Bremner before Alness drew level on 13 minutes. Chapman stole in behind the home rearguard to gather a throughball before lashing the ball past More.
The hard-pressed Robertson then did well to deal with goal attempts by Gary Coghill and Murray.
Stand-in central defender Kevin Miller then headed narrowly over from a Bremner corner and Mark Nichol went close with a cracking shot-on-the-turn after 22 minutes.
Alness went close themselves several times before they drew ahead 11 minutes later when Chapman ran several defenders ragged before firing an unstoppable shot past More into the far corner.
The visitors should have stretched their lead three minutes from the turaround when Michael Dunnett foiled a would-be offside trap to run clear.
Dunnett's attempted chip was however under-hit and More made an easy catch.
Thurso dominated the third quarter and, though behind, looked good value to go and win the game.
Nichol and Ross Sutherland went close before Phil Makhouli, a half-time substitute for Murray, had a well-struck effort palmed to safety by Robertson.
Chapman was a threat throughout the afternoon and he was let down by his team-mates on 57 minutes when there were no takers for his inviting cut-back across th six yard box after another of his foraging runs down the right.
Nichol failed to exploit a mix-up in the visiting defence five minutes later when he sent his shot into the side-net.
Thurso drew level on 65 minutes after one of Ian Adamson's first contributions after entering the fray.
He broke down the left flank and saw his low cross stepped over by Nichol before being netted by Phil Makhouli.
A minute later, Adamson featured for the wrong reasons when he hauled down Dunnett as the later made progress in the box. The experienced Jack would have been short odds to convert the spot-kick but he was thwarted by the teenage More who kept the ball out with his feet.
The miss was magnified two minutes later Alness found themselves behind for the second time.
A quickfire counter saw Nichol centre for Phil Makhouli to rattle in his second of the game.
That provoked a backlash from the visitors though Thurso appeared to have ridden the storm before they conceded the 81st inute equaliser.
After losing possession, the home side were caught short at the back and Brian Davidson raced in to strike at goal.
More pulled off a fine parry to his left but was powerless to prevent Chapman following up to net with an accurate finish just inside the left upright.
Both sides missed chances to win with Davidson just off-target for the visitors and Nichol heading a Bremner corner.
Alness manager Tommy Regan was equally relieved to get a draw and frustrated his side had not registered a victory.
He said: "It's always difficult to get a result up here and in past years we'd be delighted with a draw but with Thurso in something of a transitional stage, we maybe felt we could have edged the win. "It was a very open, entertaining game and it could easily have been 3-3 at half-time. "We were quite delighted to be ahead 2-1 but Thurso came back and it was case of containment until they got the equaliser. "I felt the missed penalty was the turning point and when Thurso went ahead again, it looked bleak for us but we fought back well to get back and deserved the equaliser near the end."
Thurso line-up - More, Warner, Miller, Fearns (Adamson 60), Bain, M. Makhouli, Bremner, R.Sutherland, G.Coghill, A.Murray (P. Makhouli h/t), Nichol.
Alness -- Robertson, McAskill, Doull, Mackay, Dingwall, Dunnett, Davidson, McGarvey, Jack, Buntain, Chapman. Subs -- Murray, MacDonald and Munro.
Ref -- Mr C. MacLeod, Castletown.
Last year's top two in the MSIS North Caley League shared the spoils on Saturday in a match of fluctuating fortunes in which the result was in doubt right to the end.
The visitors recovered from the loss of an early goal to go in 2-1 ahead at the interval. After the Vikings equalised, the game swung their way when they snatched the lead a couple of minutes after Ross Jack failed from the penalty spot.
But Alness came back to net a late equaliser from their hat-trick hero David Chapman.
Manager Colin Chessor, in his first game in charge, made six changs to the starting line-up who went down 3-0 in their opening fixture at Balintore.
His side made a lighting start with Alan Murray testing keper Grant Robertson with a right-foot strike before shooting his side into a fourth minute lead.
Alness defender Colin Doull was at fault as last year's top scorer in the league opened his account with a crisp near-post finish.
A glut of goalmouth action then saw Mark Makhouli make Robertson work to save a decent effort before Jack went close with a head-flick from a corner.
Thurso keeper James More pulled off his first stop on 10 minutes when Brendan McGarvey was left unmarked to try his luck with a powerful header.
Both defences looked vulerable as chances continued to be created at both ends. Robertson required two goes at keeping out a 25 yarder from Gavin Bremner before Alness drew level on 13 minutes. Chapman stole in behind the home rearguard to gather a throughball before lashing the ball past More.
The hard-pressed Robertson then did well to deal with goal attempts by Gary Coghill and Murray.
Stand-in central defender Kevin Miller then headed narrowly over from a Bremner corner and Mark Nichol went close with a cracking shot-on-the-turn after 22 minutes.
Alness went close themselves several times before they drew ahead 11 minutes later when Chapman ran several defenders ragged before firing an unstoppable shot past More into the far corner.
The visitors should have stretched their lead three minutes from the turaround when Michael Dunnett foiled a would-be offside trap to run clear.
Dunnett's attempted chip was however under-hit and More made an easy catch.
Thurso dominated the third quarter and, though behind, looked good value to go and win the game.
Nichol and Ross Sutherland went close before Phil Makhouli, a half-time substitute for Murray, had a well-struck effort palmed to safety by Robertson.
Chapman was a threat throughout the afternoon and he was let down by his team-mates on 57 minutes when there were no takers for his inviting cut-back across th six yard box after another of his foraging runs down the right.
Nichol failed to exploit a mix-up in the visiting defence five minutes later when he sent his shot into the side-net.
Thurso drew level on 65 minutes after one of Ian Adamson's first contributions after entering the fray.
He broke down the left flank and saw his low cross stepped over by Nichol before being netted by Phil Makhouli.
A minute later, Adamson featured for the wrong reasons when he hauled down Dunnett as the later made progress in the box. The experienced Jack would have been short odds to convert the spot-kick but he was thwarted by the teenage More who kept the ball out with his feet.
The miss was magnified two minutes later Alness found themselves behind for the second time.
A quickfire counter saw Nichol centre for Phil Makhouli to rattle in his second of the game.
That provoked a backlash from the visitors though Thurso appeared to have ridden the storm before they conceded the 81st inute equaliser.
After losing possession, the home side were caught short at the back and Brian Davidson raced in to strike at goal.
More pulled off a fine parry to his left but was powerless to prevent Chapman following up to net with an accurate finish just inside the left upright.
Both sides missed chances to win with Davidson just off-target for the visitors and Nichol heading a Bremner corner.
Alness manager Tommy Regan was equally relieved to get a draw and frustrated his side had not registered a victory.
He said: "It's always difficult to get a result up here and in past years we'd be delighted with a draw but with Thurso in something of a transitional stage, we maybe felt we could have edged the win. "It was a very open, entertaining game and it could easily have been 3-3 at half-time. "We were quite delighted to be ahead 2-1 but Thurso came back and it was case of containment until they got the equaliser. "I felt the missed penalty was the turning point and when Thurso went ahead again, it looked bleak for us but we fought back well to get back and deserved the equaliser near the end."
Thurso line-up - More, Warner, Miller, Fearns (Adamson 60), Bain, M. Makhouli, Bremner, R.Sutherland, G.Coghill, A.Murray (P. Makhouli h/t), Nichol.
Alness -- Robertson, McAskill, Doull, Mackay, Dingwall, Dunnett, Davidson, McGarvey, Jack, Buntain, Chapman. Subs -- Murray, MacDonald and Munro.
Ref -- Mr C. MacLeod, Castletown.