AJG Parcels North of Scotland Cup – 1st round – round-up
July 27th, 30th and 31st
Sam hat-trick send Scorries into next round
Golspie Sutherland 1 – Wick Academy 3
Wick Academy opened this year's North of Scotland Cup
competition on the 27th of July with an away tie to Golspie
Sutherland and they ran out 3-1 winners.
Academy went behind on nine minutes, courtesy of Wick-based
Bobby Gunn's opener. Sam Mackay equalised on 38 minutes with the benefit of
good fortune, as his 25 yard effort took a big deflection off a Golspie
defender before landing in the net.
In the second-half, Mackay missed a penalty which would have
put the Scorries ahead for the first time in the game. However, however he was
on-hand minutes later to nod home on 67 minutes to make it 2-1.
Although Stevie Cunningham also missed from the spot, the
victory was sealed three minutes from time when Mackay exchanged passes with
Gary Weir, before firing into the net to complete his hat-trick.
Fort William 1 – Muir of Ord Rovers 0
In the other Saturday game Fort William hosted Muir of Ord
Rovers and the home side advanced to the next round courtesy of a Darren Quigg
goal.
Fort came within inches of opening the scoring a minute
before the break, as Iain MacLellan's dipping volley came back off the crossbar
from 30 yards. However, the opening goal arrived on 48 minutes. Sean Grant's
free-kick from 30 yards out was spilled by Rovers goal-keeper Stephen, before
it fell into the path of Darren Quigg five yards out and he made no mistake.
Both keeper made good saves to keep the scoring down. Fort
keeper Robin Harvey turned a Daniel MacLeannan 30 yard drive around his post
and at the other end Rover's keeper Stephen blocked a Robson shot.
Rovers hit the post with 12 minutes left to play but Fort
William held on for the win.
Brora Rangers 1 – Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1 – Brora win
3-0 on penalties.
Zander Sutherland opened the scoring for the home side 5
minutes before the half time break when he drilled a low shot past ICT keeper
Cameron Mackay.
Caley responded within 3 minutes when Norwegian U21
internationalist Torbjørn Agdestein knocked the ball past Joe Malin.
The game ended at 1-1 and went to penalty kicks. Ben Greenhalgh
took the first penalty and it was saved by Joe Malin. Sutherland and Mackay
both converted for the hosts, while Joe Gorman and Danny Devine both missed the
target for Caley. That left Gavin Morrison to seal the tie as he converted sending
his former side out of the cup.
Nairn County 3 – Strathspey Thistle 1
Nairn opened the scoring on 7 minutes when Martin MacDonald
headed home. Highland League Player of the year Connor Gethins doubled Nairn's
advantage with an excellent free-kick from the edge of the box 10 minutes before
the half-time whistle.
Nairn twice hit the frame of the goal before Strathspey
pulled a goal back when Gavin Chisholm headed past keeper Callum Donaldson.
15 minutes from full-time Nairn secured their place in the
next round when Andrew Neill scored with a class finish.
Halkirk United 4 – Clachnacuddin 5
Clachnacuddin edged out Halkirk United in a nine goal thriller
in a game which was full of action and talking-points.
Former Brora Rangers left back Ben Murray opened the scoring
for Halkirk after 9 minutes when he joined in the attack at a corner and he
headed past veteran keeper John Campbell.
Clach squared the scores within a minute when Kyle Whyte found
the net with a header also from a corner kick.
The visitors then went on to take the lead in the 37th
minute through Gordon Morrison, who capatilised on the lack of aerial resilience
from the Anglers to get his head to a corner kick and rattle home.
The game was turned on its head minutes later when Grant
MacNab managed to break free of the Clach defence with only the goalkeeper to
beat. But before he could get a shot on goal, last man Chris Lawrie took him
out with a badly judged tackle, leaving referee Graham Elder no option but to
send him off.
Halkirk took advantage when, from just outside the box,
Gordon MacNab curled his free kick around the wall and into the bottom right
hand corner.
Clach keeper John Campbell made two good saves after the
half-time break but he gifted Halkirk the lead when, after a horrendous back
pass, he fired his rushed clearance against Grant MacNab, who managed to
control the ball by running around Campbell and firing into the back of the
net.
The lead was only to last three minutes when, following a
clever passage of play, John McKay hit a sweet drive from 15 yards into the top
right hand corner.
The match was decided in a nightmare three minute spell
which saw two own goals to gift Clach the tie. On the hour, John Budge sent a
powerful back-pass from 25 yards, which was too fast for Clark to control and he
could only watch despairingly as it rolled over the line. Minutes later, a
botched clearance on the edge of the box saw Andrew Cumming lob the ball over
his own goalkeeper and into the net.
Alan Hughes scored the goal of the match with a 20 yard
rocket in injury time, but it proved to be the last kick of the game.
Rothes 1 – Lossiemouth 3
It took 42 minutes before the opening goal in this tie was
scored. A cracking hit from Calum Dunbar
was well parried by Ricky Horne but Liam Archibald was on hand to hammer the
ball over the line from eight yards.
Rothes drew level 10 minutes after the re-start. Sean
McIntosh cracked home a half-volley 15 yards from goal.
With twelve minutes left, visitors Lossiemouth re-gained the
lead. Liam Archibald's whipped in a great cross from the right wing and it was was
headed home from close range by full-back Darren Bailey.
With only two minutes left Lossie killed off the tie when Scott
Wilson followed up a rebound from a Ricky Wardrop shot and he poked it home.
2nd Round ties
Lossiemouth v Forres Mechanics
Nairn County v Fort William
Thurso v Brora Rangers
Wick Academy v Clachnacuddin
