Post by Brian Mackay on Nov 21, 2008 9:16:22 GMT -5
Tain Thistle 0 Thurso 0 - Report from Iain Grant
Tain Thistle have much bigger fish to fry this season than their MSIS North Caledonian League rivals.
They may be languishing at the bottom of the league in their debut season after stepping up from the Ross-shire Welfare ranks.
But they have been put in the same ball-park as the game’s giants such as Manchester United and Barcelona following their shock inclusion in the latest version of a popular soccer computer game.
Their tie-up with Football Manager 09 resulted from a business contact of chairman Niall Harkiss.
Unfortunately, the North Caley League does not feature in this rarified virtual world so Thistle have ‘promoted’ themselves to the Scottish Third Division.
Thurso manager Stevie Reid may have wished Saturday’s clash was on computer format so dire was his side’s display.
Conceding a draw was as much the Vikings deserved, he said it was by far their worst performance of what has been a low-key campaign.
The day started badly for the Caithness men with weather-enforced call-offs from Orkney duo, Wayne Monkman and Kevin Groundwater.
Thurso never settled on the narrow Grant Park, which suits the direct approach of the home side, who use a 4-5-1 formation.
The first half was a tight affair with Thurso having to wait until 25 minutes for their first effort on goal, a Gavin Bremner strike which forced a smart save from keeper Barry Nimmons.
The half was book-ended by decent openings carved out by the Jags with visiting keeper Asa Sinclair keeping out an early header from Paul Austin and Chris Mailley firing just wide in the last action of the half.
Thurso had the better of the 15 minutes after the restart but then found themselves under the cosh as the Jags got the decided upper hand.
During this spell, Asa Sinclair kept his side in the hunt when he somehow got fingertips to turn a ferocious free-kick from Scott Innes on to the bar and over.
Thurso could have snatched all three points 10 minutes from the end when sub Andrew Cumming was baulked as he released Martin Sinclair through on goal.
Sinclair netted but ref Bob Gunn had by then pulled back play for the foul.
In a furious finale, Innes and fellow defender Martyn Farquhar were booked for reckless tackles while Martin Mackay had his injury-time strike well saved by Asa Sinclair.
Manager Reid was less than impressed with his side’s third goal-less stalemate of the campaign. “A draw was about right,” he reflected.
“We struggled to create anything – we had too many not at the races.”
He added: “They will have to buck their ideas up as we are a much better team than we are showing at the moment.”
Tomorrow, they play Alness United at home.
Weather-permitting, the Orkney contingent will join the squad but midfielder Michael Petrie is a major doubt after pulling a back muscle at training on Tuesday evening.
Tomorrow’s match kicks off at 1.30 p.m.
Thurso – A. Sinclair, Stewart, Stuart Sinclair, Shearer, Steven, Bain
(Cumming 75), Inrig, Petrie, Bremner, M. Sinclair, MacDougall. Subs (unused) – Steven Sinclair and Munro.
Ref – Mr B. Gunn.
Bonar Bridge’s recent revival continues on Saturday when they notched up their second win in successive weeks. A Ryan MacLean double helped them win 2-1 at home versus Bunillidh Thistle, who had taken an early lead through Leon Urquhart.
Invergordon caused a cup upset when they scored a 2-1 away win at Balintore.
A second half Alan Campbell brace cancelled out John Skinner’s opener to send Invergordon into the quarter-finals of the SWL Cup.
Tain Thistle have much bigger fish to fry this season than their MSIS North Caledonian League rivals.
They may be languishing at the bottom of the league in their debut season after stepping up from the Ross-shire Welfare ranks.
But they have been put in the same ball-park as the game’s giants such as Manchester United and Barcelona following their shock inclusion in the latest version of a popular soccer computer game.
Their tie-up with Football Manager 09 resulted from a business contact of chairman Niall Harkiss.
Unfortunately, the North Caley League does not feature in this rarified virtual world so Thistle have ‘promoted’ themselves to the Scottish Third Division.
Thurso manager Stevie Reid may have wished Saturday’s clash was on computer format so dire was his side’s display.
Conceding a draw was as much the Vikings deserved, he said it was by far their worst performance of what has been a low-key campaign.
The day started badly for the Caithness men with weather-enforced call-offs from Orkney duo, Wayne Monkman and Kevin Groundwater.
Thurso never settled on the narrow Grant Park, which suits the direct approach of the home side, who use a 4-5-1 formation.
The first half was a tight affair with Thurso having to wait until 25 minutes for their first effort on goal, a Gavin Bremner strike which forced a smart save from keeper Barry Nimmons.
The half was book-ended by decent openings carved out by the Jags with visiting keeper Asa Sinclair keeping out an early header from Paul Austin and Chris Mailley firing just wide in the last action of the half.
Thurso had the better of the 15 minutes after the restart but then found themselves under the cosh as the Jags got the decided upper hand.
During this spell, Asa Sinclair kept his side in the hunt when he somehow got fingertips to turn a ferocious free-kick from Scott Innes on to the bar and over.
Thurso could have snatched all three points 10 minutes from the end when sub Andrew Cumming was baulked as he released Martin Sinclair through on goal.
Sinclair netted but ref Bob Gunn had by then pulled back play for the foul.
In a furious finale, Innes and fellow defender Martyn Farquhar were booked for reckless tackles while Martin Mackay had his injury-time strike well saved by Asa Sinclair.
Manager Reid was less than impressed with his side’s third goal-less stalemate of the campaign. “A draw was about right,” he reflected.
“We struggled to create anything – we had too many not at the races.”
He added: “They will have to buck their ideas up as we are a much better team than we are showing at the moment.”
Tomorrow, they play Alness United at home.
Weather-permitting, the Orkney contingent will join the squad but midfielder Michael Petrie is a major doubt after pulling a back muscle at training on Tuesday evening.
Tomorrow’s match kicks off at 1.30 p.m.
Thurso – A. Sinclair, Stewart, Stuart Sinclair, Shearer, Steven, Bain
(Cumming 75), Inrig, Petrie, Bremner, M. Sinclair, MacDougall. Subs (unused) – Steven Sinclair and Munro.
Ref – Mr B. Gunn.
Bonar Bridge’s recent revival continues on Saturday when they notched up their second win in successive weeks. A Ryan MacLean double helped them win 2-1 at home versus Bunillidh Thistle, who had taken an early lead through Leon Urquhart.
Invergordon caused a cup upset when they scored a 2-1 away win at Balintore.
A second half Alan Campbell brace cancelled out John Skinner’s opener to send Invergordon into the quarter-finals of the SWL Cup.