Highland League & Cup round-up
Saturday & Sunday September 10th & 11th
ICT and Deveronvale lift the silver-ware
The weekend's Highland League card was reduced to six games as two cup finals took place.
Deveronvale are the new holders of the Aberdeenshire Cup, after triumphing 5-4 over Keith in a wonderful, drama-filled final at Christie Park.
Two goals within a minute for Keith courtesy of Kris Niddrie and Andy Anderson sensationally turned the game on its head following Mike McKenzie's opener. Vale skipper Mark Chisholm made the score 2-2 right on half-time, but a strike from Maroons' top scorer Cammy Keith and an own goal from Chris Blackhall looked to have put the Kynoch Park men on track.
Unbelievably though, strikes from McKenzie and Grant Noble levelled the final, and in suitable fashion Blackhall was on hand to score at the right end to win the cup for Deveronvale – remarkably their comeback was completed in an outstanding six-minute spell.
Two goals within a minute for Keith courtesy of Kris Niddrie and Andy Anderson sensationally turned the game on its head following Mike McKenzie's opener. Vale skipper Mark Chisholm made the score 2-2 right on half-time, but a strike from Maroons' top scorer Cammy Keith and an own goal from Chris Blackhall looked to have put the Kynoch Park men on track.
Unbelievably though, strikes from McKenzie and Grant Noble levelled the final, and in suitable fashion Blackhall was on hand to score at the right end to win the cup for Deveronvale – remarkably their comeback was completed in an outstanding six-minute spell.
In the AJG Parcels North Scotland Cup Inverness Caley Thistle pulled off a 4-3 victory over Forres Mechanics at Mosset Park. Despite outshooting the SPL club and dominating proceedings, the Can-cans lacked the killer touch and it was Duncan Shearer's side who lifted the trophy.
ICT scored two goals in the space of a minute. Shane Sutherland sidefooted into the top corner from 8 yards out and then Billy Mackay doubled the advantage. Things got worse for Forres when they lost a third when Billy Mackay netted from the spot.
Forres pulled one back early in the second half when Simon Allan drilled in a penalty kick. With just over twenty minutes to go ICT scored their 4th when Andrew Grieg was left unmarked and from 8 yards he clinically fired an angled shot across Stuart Knight and into the back of the net. Game Over – well for 3 minutes at least because in the 73rd minute Forres pulled it back to 4-2. Simon Allan's long throw saw Lee Fraser go up with David Proctor. The ball came back to Kyle Scott who danced his way across the box and to the byeline before dinking a fantastic ball to the back post where Scott Moore rose to head the ball off the underside of the bar. The ball bounced down, the cheers went up, then it bounced out but as Caley looked to clear the whistle went to signify that standside assistant Mike Sinclair had confirmed to the referee that it was a goal. The game had ticked into injury time when Forres reduced the deficit to one. Another well supported attack saw Scott Moore managed to force the ball through to Lee Fraser who slid into lift the ball over Tuffey from 7 yards out to make it 4-3, but there was to be no fairytale ending as the SPL side held on to claim the Cup leaving the Forres players disappointed and the matchday reporters exhausted.
In the remaining league action, another dramatic game saw pacesetters Buckie Thistle 2-0 down at the break at the Haughs, as goals from in-form Jerry O'Driscoll and Dave McKenzie put Turriff firmly in the driving seat. However a valiant comeback from the champions saw defenders Michael Morrison and Lewis MacKinnon score within the last ten minutes to snatch a point. That was enough to keep Buckie at the top of the table with a 2 point advantage over Nairn, Cove and Fraserburgh.
Quickfire goals after the break from Steven MacKay and Martin MacDonald edged Nairn ahead in their derby with Clach, with Robbie Duncanson adding a third.
Cove visited Inverurie and won 4-2. Jack Strachan's first of the season cancelled out former Locos man Danny Milne's early opener. However a seven-minute spell after half-time saw Cove score three goals courtesy of a further strike from Milne, with Martin Johnston also grabbing a double. Former Toonser Clark Bain pulled one back for the home side.
Lossiemouth recorded a 2-0 win over a depleted Formartine side which had to call upon two trialists, with substitute Nikki Smith adding to Colin Charlesworth's first-half opener.
Fraserburgh eased to a 5-0 win in their duel with Brora, with Kris Hunter's side recording five different scorers to storm past Andy MacLeod's men.
Elsewhere, Rothes went three points ahead of Huntly with victory over the Black and Golds. With the game locked at 1-1, Matthew Fraser popped up with five minutes to go to clinch victory for the Speysiders.
