4 minutes before the break Golspie opened the scoring. Weir
went on the attack chasing down a long ball into the Golspie half but it was
punted back down-field by keeper Mackay who had come about 15 yards out of his
goal to meet the ball. It went over the heads of the Academy back-line and
Aaron Smith ran onto it and into the Academy box. More came to meet him and went
down at his feet in an attempt to grab the ball and made contact with Smith
going over. Referee Baxter awarded a penalty and sent More off as he was
adjudged to be the last man and had denied a clear goal scoring opportunity.
This seemed a little harsh as Manson looked as if he was goal-side to the
incident. Andrew MacLeod donned the gloves and went between the sticks but
couldn't prevent Shane Sutherland from slotting home.
1 – 0
Half time 1 -0
Academy changed formation at the start of the second half
going 3-4-2 with Manson pushing up. This proved to be a good move as Academy
dominated the first 20 minutes of the second half. They created several good
goal scoring chances including a Farquhar attempt that went just over the bar
and a 8 yard volley from Manson that hit defender Thomson on the knee and went
over for a corner.
Academys' equaliser came just on the hour mark. Shearer
slotting the ball up the left channel for Manson to run onto and he drilled his left foot shot past Mackay.
1 – 1
Golspie then applied a little pressure of their own with
stand-in keeper MacLeod doing well to rise and grasp a hold of a Connelly
cross, and the Academy defence got some good defensive blocks on a few other
attempts on goal.
Ross and Nigel Mackenzie were introduced in the 73rd
minute for Farquhar and Cowie, and both players were involved with Academy's
winner. MacKenzie ran the ball up the right wing winning a throw-in at the
corner flag. Ross sent a long throw-in onto the box that was flicked on by
Shearer. The ball fell for Weir who turned his defender and fired home into the
bottom right hand corner of the net.
1 – 2
With time ticking out Golspie threw everything at the
Academy defence. They had several shots blocked before a Connelly attempt was
cleared off the line for a corner by Shearer. Everyone including keeper Mackay
filled the Academy box for the corner kick but the Academy defence cleared the
attack out to MacKenzie who switched a long ball to Macadie who tried to lob
the ball from distance into an empty net with keeper Mackay struggling to get
back from the corner kick, but Macadies attempt went just wide of target.
With seconds left Shane Sutherland fired in a wicked cross
right on top of Academys' make-shift keeper Macleod, but he did the team proud
by collecting the ball. He punched the air realising that the referee was going
to blow at any second for half time and as he booted the ball down-field the
full time whistle sounded.
Full time 1 – 2
Academy now progress to the next round, semi-final, where they face an
away trip to Inverness Caley Thistle. It looks as if this game will be played
on Tuesday the 26th August with an 8:00pm kick off. The date and
venue will be confirmed later this week.
Much head-scratching was done in order to find out the
status of availability for MacMillan and More for the games ahead. MacMillan
received a three match ban from the Fraserburgh game, and More is likely to get
a one match ban for his sending off in this game. Following the rules from the
different competitions the implications are as follows: Don will be suspended
for the Fraserburgh game on the 16th, and the Buckie Game on the 30th.
James is likely to be suspended for the NOS Cup semi-final on the 26th,
but Don will be eligible for playing in that game.Clear as mud eh!
