Beauly cause MacTavish Cup surprise
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THE opening round of the RBS MacTavish Cup largely went with the form book, although Beauly shook the established order with a 3-1 win away over Premiership side Lochaber.
The National Division side fought back from an early Zander Ferguson strike to produce the result of the day and give new manager Roger Cormack a huge boost in the wake of a couple of disappointing league results.
While the win for the Greens was essentially a triumph of youth over experience — Beauly’s defence, including rookie goalkeeper Josh Grant, comprised four teenagers — credit was also due to the two veterans in the side, attacking midfielder Barrie MacDonald and full back David Neilson who used all their experience to good effect, holding the line when Lochaber produced periods of dominance, particularly after the interval when they trailed 2-1.
It was MacDonald’s cleverly taken goal in the 68th minute that stretched Beauly’s advantage to a two-goal margin, leaving Lochaber staring down the barrel of a shock defeat.
Earlier, a Ross Forbes strike in the 29th minute had brought Beauly a deserved equaliser and two minutes later it became a family affair when his cousin David Maclean rifled home a 25-yard drive to put the visitors ahead.
The match ended on sour note when a late tackle by Lochaber’s Ben Delaney sparked a melee which resulted in Beauly’s Connor Cormack and Lochaber’s Stuart Callison getting their marching orders from referee David Stafford, while Delaney escaped censure.
If that was the nearest the first round came to producing a giant killing act, elsewhere some of the more fancied runners were made to sweat before taking their place in the quarter-finals.
Holders Lovat enjoyed the easiest of first round passages against North Division Two side Boleskine and made light of the challenge, recording an 11-0 victory.
Lovat strolled to a 6-0 interval lead with Kevin Bartlett helping himself to a hat-trick, while Lorne MacKay, back in the side after serving a two-match suspension, was also on target.
A goal apiece from the Matheson brothers Jamie and Greg completed a comfortable opening 45 minutes for Alan MacRae’s side.
After the break, Lovat eased the pace and Boleskine came more into the match. The goals kept coming, however, with Greg Matheson completing his hat-trick, Jamie Matheson and MacKay adding to their tally. Owen Ferguson rounded off the scoring with a strike in the 90th minute.
Games involving Premiership sides Glenurquhart and Kingussie were forced into extra-time, but late goals saved their blushes and avoided the matches being settled on penalties.
The shootout scenario must have brought dread to the hearts of the Glen players and fans with memories still raw after they fluffed their lines from the spot when losing to Lovat in last year’s final.
However, substitute James MacPherson eased their fears when he scored the only goal of the match at Portree in the 93rd minute of extra-time, before departing the pitch with a hamstring problem.
Glenurquhart face Caberfeidh in the quarter-finals after the Strathpeffer side beat Ross-shire rivals Lochcarron 5-0.
One of the most heroic performances of the day was at Newtonmore where Strathglass held the hosts to a 3-0 win with ‘More struggling to overcome a splendid rearguard action before Glen MacKintosh settled the match with an 86th minute strike.
The Strath conceded early through Paul MacArthur’s fourth minute strike, which did not auger well for the underdogs, but the goals avalanche failed to materialise as Strathglass closed down the Newtonmore attack.
Calum Stewart eased Newtonmore ahead midway through the second half, but Strathglass battled to the end.
Inverness were also making life difficult for higher league opposition before falling to late goals from Kilmallie, who progressed courtesy of a 4-2 home win.
Liam MacDonald hit the first of his three goals with the opener in the sixth minute, but the city club responded strongly with goals by Liam Girvan and Dougie Rankin. Ryan Stewart levelled for Kilmallie after the interval to pave the way for a late double from MacDonald.
Elsewhere, a Thomas Borthwick strike in the 108th minute eased Kingussie through at the expense of Fort William with the Badenoch side winning 2-1 at An Aird.
The quarter-final line up is as follows with ties to be played on the 19th April:
Newtonmore v Beauly; Kinlochshiel v Kingussie; Kilmallie v Lovat; Glenurquhart v Caberfeidh.
