Balloan beat Clachnacuddin in 10-goal Inverness derby thriller
A city meeting between the young guns of Balloan and Clachnacuddin produced a ten-goal thriller at Inverness Royal Academy on Sunday, as the chase for under-18 league honours gathers pace.
The sides had exchanged goals after just three minutes with Mikey Mackenzie cancelling out Frazer Barnie’s first minute opener.
And that theme continued for the majority of the first half, Balloan first going in front through Aiden Gibb on nine minutes before Mackenzie grabbed his second 11 minutes later.
It was even for the majority of the first period until a goal from Leo Lomba on the stroke of half-time made it 3-2.
It was all one-way traffic for a good while in the second half though as Balloan netted further goals through a Stewart Grant own goal and second strikes from Barnie and Gibb to open up a seemingly unassailable lead.
But a late flurry from the Lilywhites under-18s gave Balloan pause for thought, with a Calan Morrison own goal and Shaun Clare drawing them closer.
The two-goal deficit ultimately proved a bridge too far, however as Balloan won 6-4.
At Nairn Academy, Inverness Athletic enjoyed a big win over their County hosts.
Nairn had gone in front after just four minutes through Finlay Tebb, but the pendulum soon swung in the way of the visitors and a goal from Sean Kavanagh drew them level on 14 minutes.
Goals from Shaun Gowans and Kieran Urquhart minutes before the interval completed the turnaround as Athletic led 3-1, and their dominance was further confirmed with two goals seven minutes into the second half from James Young and Blair Bingham.
A goal midway through the half from Aaron Craigie reduced the deficit, but County could do nothing to prevent an Inverness win.
League leaders Wick Academy made it 10 wins out of 10 with a 7-2 away victory over Keith.
It didn’t take long for the young Scorries to get going with George Ewing finding himself through on goal inside the opening 30 seconds. His shot was parried into the path of John Hooker who tapped home for his eighth of the season.
Ewing then found the net himself for a two-goal lead inside the opening five minutes.
Harry Gray reduced the deficit with a goal for Keith but Wick moved up a gear in the second half when captain Owen Bain scored from the spot to restore his team’s two-goal advantage.
Ewing and Bain each grabbed a second to put the outcome beyond doubt, before Keith’s Luca Green reduced the deficit again - but a Ben Fettes own goal soon made it 6-2.
Joshua Hughes then capped off a brilliant individual performance to take Wick’s tally to seven.
In the other games of the day, Forres Mechanics took the Moray brgaging rights with a 2-1 win away to Lossiemouth, while Buckie Thistle made easy work of North West Skye in a 6-1 win.
The all-Easter Ross meeting of Dingwall and Alness United was postponed.
