Post by Brian Mackay on Mar 19, 2008 7:43:56 GMT -5
Alness United 1 Thurso 3 - report from Iain Grant
Thurso advanced their North Caley title push on Saturday when they completed a league double over their Easter Ross hosts.
An early brace from Mark Nichol should have been the platform for a relatively stress-free victory.
But a failure to convert one of two cinches soon afterwards kept the contest very much alive until Wayne Monkman made it 3-0 just before the hour-mark.
Even then, Alness drew heart from Jamie MacDonald’s long-range, surprise counter on 68 minutes.
The home cause was only finally laid to rest with the subsequent senseless sending-off of Willie Stewart.
The Vikings finished on top in a tussle which doubled as a first round encounter in the Football Times Cup.
Heavy showers in the run-up to and during the game lent an untypically spongy feel to Dalmore Park and taxed the stamina levels of the teams.
Alness have lost a string of experienced campaigners over the past two years with recruits from coach Tommy Regan’s youth sides making up the backbone of this season’s squad.
It was however a veteran, former Golspie stalwart Gary Reid, who was prominent early on with some probing runs and neat link-ups.
After five minutes, he capitalised from a still-born Thurso attack by exploiting a free passage down the inside left channel.
His cross deep into the penalty box could have paid dividends were it not for evergreen Kevin Warner’s clearing header over the bar.
Alness’s early fire was dowsed when they conceded two goals in as many minutes.
The first had its origins in a minuts clearance under pressure from home keeper Grant Robertson.
Nichol gathered and set up Martin Bain who spurned a free crack at goal from the edge of the six yard box in favour of teeing up Lee MacDougall.
MacDougall was summarily chopped down and Nichol potted the spot-kick with a minimum of fuss.
After nine minutes, The Vikings were celebrating again when
MacDougall picked out Nichol with a measured pass after a rollicking run down his wide left beat.
The striker weighed up his options before crafting a 10 yard curling strike which blurred past Robertson for his 30th league goal of the campaign.
Michael Petrie, Monkman and the hard-tackling Ross Sutherland had a stranglehold of the midfield while MacKenzie and MacDougall were fruitful outlets on the flanks.
MacKenzie was just off-target with a low drive before he was guilty of spurning a snip on 15 minutes.
After being set up by Nichol, MacKenzie lofted attempt at goal allowed Robertson to make a painful block with his nether regions.
Three minutes later, Petrie and Sutherland combined to tee up MacDougall six yards out. With the goal at his mercy, he sent the ball into the heavens.
The let-offs encouraged Alness who were seeing far more of the ball.
The chances however continued to come in the home goalmouth with MacDougall threatening with a free-kick and Monkman heading just over from a corner.
Thurso keeper Lee Allan’s first real contribution came on 39 minutes when he made a scrambling save to turn Reid’s shot round his left post.
Two minutes later, the keeper was left exposed as a cross from the right was allowed to run through to David Murray whose rasping shot
came back of the junction of the bar and the right post.
Alness were first to impress after the turnaround with Allan required to pull off saves from MacDonald and Paul Gair.
After 49 minutes, MacKenzie played in Nichol who was denied by Robertson’s brave block.
Alan Dorian then forced a full-stretch parry from Allan before MacDougall passed up a clear opening.
The third goal on 59 minutes was created by a looping, far-post
cross delivered by MacDougall and netted by a downward header from Monkman.
Robertson did well to deny MacKenzie adding to the lead before a good spell for the hosts was announced when Craig Munro struck the bar with a header from a corner.
They pulled one back when MacDonald’s snap-shot from 25 yards fizzed past Allan.
Alness’s recovery was stopped in its tracks on 70 minutes when Stewart lashed out at Bain after the pair tangled off the pitch.
It had up to then been a hard-fought though even-tempered affair, with Bain and Petrie booked for mistimed challenges.
Thurso came close to restoring their three goal advantage on 74 minutes when MacKenzie headed a MacDougall cross narrowly wide.
Munro then came to his side’s rescue when he kept out Nichol’s netbound strike after good work by Bain.
Thurso were well in control with Robertson getting down well to parry a MacDougall free-kick and then thwarting Nichol who had been played in by a neat flick from sub John Holmes.
The performance left Thurso manager Duncan Gray generally happy though he bemoaned the early opportunities chances wasted to put the game beyond their hosts.
He said: “I thought we played pretty well against them and could easily have gone three or four nil up early on.
“As we didn’t kill them off, we got a bit nervous and allowed them to come back into the game.”
He is looking for his team to raise the bar when they line up tomorrow at home to Muir of Ord.
Skipper Kevin Miller returns from suspension and Willie Steven is available for the must-win league match, which kicks off at 3 p.m.
Alness -- Robertson, Niven (Hyslop 85), Stewart, Sinclair, E. Murray, Dorian, Gair (Manson 79), Munro, MacDonald, Reid, D. Murray. Subs (not used) – Campbell, Bremner and Miller.
Thurso – Allan, Shearer, Warner, Coghill, Sutherland, Petrie (Sinclair 79), MacKenzie (Holmes 84), Monkman, Nichol, Bain (Inrig 77), MacDougall.
Ref – Mr M. Dalton, Nairn.
. In the only other league match played on Saturday, a late double from Caithness striker Sean Henstridge earned Bonar Bridge a point from their trip to Balintore.
Goals from George and William Skinner had put the hosts in the driving seat early on with the draw all but assuring Balintore’s mid-table finish.
NORTH CALEDONIAN LEAGUE
Pl W D L F A Pts
INVERNESS CITY 19 13 2 4 73 31 41
THURSO 15 12 1 2 65 23 37
GOLSPIE 14 12 1 1 58 18 37
MUIR OF ORD 15 9 4 2 52 23 31
HALKIRK UNITED 15 9 3 3 52 25 30
BALINTORE 18 7 5 6 40 35 26
INVERGORDON 20 5 4 11 32 57 19
ALNESS UNITED 18 4 3 11 25 43 15
BUNILLIDH THISTLE 15 4 2 9 26 62 14
BONAR BRIDGE 16 2 1 13 16 48 7
DORNOCH 19 2 0 17 17 91 6
Thurso advanced their North Caley title push on Saturday when they completed a league double over their Easter Ross hosts.
An early brace from Mark Nichol should have been the platform for a relatively stress-free victory.
But a failure to convert one of two cinches soon afterwards kept the contest very much alive until Wayne Monkman made it 3-0 just before the hour-mark.
Even then, Alness drew heart from Jamie MacDonald’s long-range, surprise counter on 68 minutes.
The home cause was only finally laid to rest with the subsequent senseless sending-off of Willie Stewart.
The Vikings finished on top in a tussle which doubled as a first round encounter in the Football Times Cup.
Heavy showers in the run-up to and during the game lent an untypically spongy feel to Dalmore Park and taxed the stamina levels of the teams.
Alness have lost a string of experienced campaigners over the past two years with recruits from coach Tommy Regan’s youth sides making up the backbone of this season’s squad.
It was however a veteran, former Golspie stalwart Gary Reid, who was prominent early on with some probing runs and neat link-ups.
After five minutes, he capitalised from a still-born Thurso attack by exploiting a free passage down the inside left channel.
His cross deep into the penalty box could have paid dividends were it not for evergreen Kevin Warner’s clearing header over the bar.
Alness’s early fire was dowsed when they conceded two goals in as many minutes.
The first had its origins in a minuts clearance under pressure from home keeper Grant Robertson.
Nichol gathered and set up Martin Bain who spurned a free crack at goal from the edge of the six yard box in favour of teeing up Lee MacDougall.
MacDougall was summarily chopped down and Nichol potted the spot-kick with a minimum of fuss.
After nine minutes, The Vikings were celebrating again when
MacDougall picked out Nichol with a measured pass after a rollicking run down his wide left beat.
The striker weighed up his options before crafting a 10 yard curling strike which blurred past Robertson for his 30th league goal of the campaign.
Michael Petrie, Monkman and the hard-tackling Ross Sutherland had a stranglehold of the midfield while MacKenzie and MacDougall were fruitful outlets on the flanks.
MacKenzie was just off-target with a low drive before he was guilty of spurning a snip on 15 minutes.
After being set up by Nichol, MacKenzie lofted attempt at goal allowed Robertson to make a painful block with his nether regions.
Three minutes later, Petrie and Sutherland combined to tee up MacDougall six yards out. With the goal at his mercy, he sent the ball into the heavens.
The let-offs encouraged Alness who were seeing far more of the ball.
The chances however continued to come in the home goalmouth with MacDougall threatening with a free-kick and Monkman heading just over from a corner.
Thurso keeper Lee Allan’s first real contribution came on 39 minutes when he made a scrambling save to turn Reid’s shot round his left post.
Two minutes later, the keeper was left exposed as a cross from the right was allowed to run through to David Murray whose rasping shot
came back of the junction of the bar and the right post.
Alness were first to impress after the turnaround with Allan required to pull off saves from MacDonald and Paul Gair.
After 49 minutes, MacKenzie played in Nichol who was denied by Robertson’s brave block.
Alan Dorian then forced a full-stretch parry from Allan before MacDougall passed up a clear opening.
The third goal on 59 minutes was created by a looping, far-post
cross delivered by MacDougall and netted by a downward header from Monkman.
Robertson did well to deny MacKenzie adding to the lead before a good spell for the hosts was announced when Craig Munro struck the bar with a header from a corner.
They pulled one back when MacDonald’s snap-shot from 25 yards fizzed past Allan.
Alness’s recovery was stopped in its tracks on 70 minutes when Stewart lashed out at Bain after the pair tangled off the pitch.
It had up to then been a hard-fought though even-tempered affair, with Bain and Petrie booked for mistimed challenges.
Thurso came close to restoring their three goal advantage on 74 minutes when MacKenzie headed a MacDougall cross narrowly wide.
Munro then came to his side’s rescue when he kept out Nichol’s netbound strike after good work by Bain.
Thurso were well in control with Robertson getting down well to parry a MacDougall free-kick and then thwarting Nichol who had been played in by a neat flick from sub John Holmes.
The performance left Thurso manager Duncan Gray generally happy though he bemoaned the early opportunities chances wasted to put the game beyond their hosts.
He said: “I thought we played pretty well against them and could easily have gone three or four nil up early on.
“As we didn’t kill them off, we got a bit nervous and allowed them to come back into the game.”
He is looking for his team to raise the bar when they line up tomorrow at home to Muir of Ord.
Skipper Kevin Miller returns from suspension and Willie Steven is available for the must-win league match, which kicks off at 3 p.m.
Alness -- Robertson, Niven (Hyslop 85), Stewart, Sinclair, E. Murray, Dorian, Gair (Manson 79), Munro, MacDonald, Reid, D. Murray. Subs (not used) – Campbell, Bremner and Miller.
Thurso – Allan, Shearer, Warner, Coghill, Sutherland, Petrie (Sinclair 79), MacKenzie (Holmes 84), Monkman, Nichol, Bain (Inrig 77), MacDougall.
Ref – Mr M. Dalton, Nairn.
. In the only other league match played on Saturday, a late double from Caithness striker Sean Henstridge earned Bonar Bridge a point from their trip to Balintore.
Goals from George and William Skinner had put the hosts in the driving seat early on with the draw all but assuring Balintore’s mid-table finish.
NORTH CALEDONIAN LEAGUE
Pl W D L F A Pts
INVERNESS CITY 19 13 2 4 73 31 41
THURSO 15 12 1 2 65 23 37
GOLSPIE 14 12 1 1 58 18 37
MUIR OF ORD 15 9 4 2 52 23 31
HALKIRK UNITED 15 9 3 3 52 25 30
BALINTORE 18 7 5 6 40 35 26
INVERGORDON 20 5 4 11 32 57 19
ALNESS UNITED 18 4 3 11 25 43 15
BUNILLIDH THISTLE 15 4 2 9 26 62 14
BONAR BRIDGE 16 2 1 13 16 48 7
DORNOCH 19 2 0 17 17 91 6