Beauly and Fort William aim for pole position
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FORT William and Beauly have it all to play for at An Aird on Saturday with the winner going to the top of the Marine Harvest National Division.
Fort, who have taken on the mantle of title favourites, will be looking to gain a timely boost ahead of their Camanachd Cup semi-final clash with Kingussie the following Saturday, whilst their visitors, although in joint second place on points, would be unlikely to remain top after this match due to having only one further game to play.
The last meeting between the teams resulted in a 4-1 win for Fort in April at Braeview Park.
Kilmallie, who sit level on points with Fort and Beauly in second place, unexpectedly dropped a point on Bute last weekend and will want to put that major disappointment behind them by elevating themselves to a table top position by picking up full points against Glenorchy at Dalmally.
Only two weeks ago, Kilmallie rattled in seven without reply when Glenorchy visited Canal Park.
Both Orion Group Premiership title contenders have tricky obstacles to overcome.
Leaders Newtonmore have a Friday night showdown with Badenoch rivals Kingussie with the action at The Dell getting under way at 6.30pm.
Kings have already faced ’More twice this year with Newtonmore winning 5-2 at The Eilean in May following this up with a 4-1 MacAulay Cup quarter-final win at The Dell in June.
Fresh from a fine win over Lovat last Saturday, ’More go into the title run-in with confidence and boss Paul John MacKintosh will know that a win over their neighbours would take his side one step nearer to clinching another title.
Lovat make the long trek south to Tighnabruaich where Kyles Athletic are unlikely to make life easy for Allan MacRae’s men who have gone off the boil since their impressive win over Glenurquhart in the MacTavish Cup final.
A victory over Kyles would be just the tonic for the Balgate side to complete a league double and keep their title hopes firmly alive.
At Kirkton, Kinlochshiel will be targeting the two points when Glenurquhart provide the opposition.
Whilst a single point is more than likely to remove ’Shiel from the relegation equation, a win would guarantee their safety and resign Lochaber to National Division shinty next season.
Glen, however, are in good form and with a third place finish in their minds as well as a Camanachd Cup semi-final against Skye to look forward to, the visitors will be keen to keep their momentum up and return home with both points.
In North Division One, leaders Skye will be expected to win against basement team Inverness in Portree, whilst at Cannich, Strathglass will need to improve upon last week’s poor showing against Glenurquhart if they are to avoid Kingussie reserves inflicting a league double on them.
In the Aberdein Considine Sutherland Cup, the reserve championship of Scotland, Beauly will start as favourites to book a place in the final when they face Fort William at the Bught, whilst the other semi-final at Ballachulish between Lovat and Kyles Athletic looks like being a very tight affair.
