Saturday December 22nd
Stormy weather puts paid to far north derby
Academy were denied the
chance to regain top spot in the Highland League when their derby clash with
Brora Rangers was abandoned amid worsening stormy conditions.
Referee Graham Fraser
decided at half-time to call the game off and, disappointing though it was for
the large travelling support, few in the ground could deny that the atrocious
weather made it impossible to play on.
The Scorries were trailing
to Ally MacDonald's 39th-minute strike but would have been confident
of turning things round after the break with the strengthening wind behind
them. Indeed the visitors would have gone in level had Richard Macadie not
struck the base of a post with a penalty a couple of minutes after the Brora
goal.
Brora's aggressive tactics
in the early stages were certainly not for the purist as they sought to nullify
the threat of Davie Allan, and MacDonald was very fortunate to escape
punishment for a wild challenge on Academy's flying frontman.
Stuart Golabek and Alex
Lamb did pick up yellow cards as the Sutherland side sought to impose
themselves physically.
Michael Gray was the busier
of the two goalkeepers as Brora forced a series of corners, and the Academy No.
1 was relieved to see a wind-assisted shot from Richie Hart come bouncing off
the top of the crossbar, but ultimately the first-half action was rendered
immaterial as Mr Fraser called a halt to proceedings.
And so the teams will meet
again at Harmsworth Park this weekend, weather permitting, in the hope of
completing the first far north league derby of the campaign.
Buckie Thistle's home
fixture against Lossiemouth was also abandoned at the interval. The game was
goalless at the time.
With five fixtures having
been postponed, followed by those abandonments at Brora and Buckie, only two
games managed to reach a conclusion.
Cammy Keith struck twice in
Keith's 3-1 victory at Huntly.
The striker opened the
scoring after just three minutes when he finished off a counter-attack, and
Jonathan Smith doubled the Maroons' lead on 39
minutes with a neat shot on the turn.
Cammy Keith added his second from the penalty
spot five minutes into the second half, with Huntly pulling one back through a
Patrick Vigurs header with 20 minutes remaining.
Strathspey Thistle celebrated a rare away win as
Gavin Chisholm's 42nd-minute goal was enough to secure a 1-0 victory
over Rothes at Mackessack Park.
