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Charlie on a Friday - Friday night football was a winner with Clachnacuddin, even if result wasn't.


By Staff Reporter

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I have always been a keen advocate for Friday night football.

Clachnacuddin v Fort William 17 Jan 2020...Picture: James MacKenzie..
Clachnacuddin v Fort William 17 Jan 2020...Picture: James MacKenzie..

Last Friday’s Highland League match at the Highland Rugby Club between Clachnacuddin and Fort William once again proved there is also an appetite for it amongst football fans.

Whilst the novelty factor of a senior match being played on the artificial pitch at Canal Park played its part the fact that the game attracted over five times the average Clach home Highland League gate made the evening a roaring success!

I have said before that the venue is top notch.

The fact that supporters could turn up an hour or so before kick off and enjoy a cold refreshment in the impressive and welcoming lounge area before making their way outside to watch the match added to the evening’s enjoyment.

I had an added interest in the match as Caley Thistle currently have eight young players on loan at Fort William and I was keen to see how playing regularly against men was aiding their development and I thought they did very well indeed.

Clach, to be fair, weren’t at their best but the back four of Fort William restricted the ‘Lilywhites’ to very few clear cut chances and that went a long way to earning them a hard fought but deserved 1–0 victory.

All in all it was a good night’s entertainment that reinforced my thinking that Friday night football should be higher up on clubs’ list of priorities as we look to attract supporters to matches more regularly.

Last weekend’s Scottish Cup fourth round matches produced very few upsets with all but one of our Premier League sides making it into the hat for the fifth round draw although Hibs still have to overcome Dundee United in next Tuesday’s replay to cement their place in round five and an away tie with Lowland League side BSC Glasgow.

Ross County were the only top flight team to fall at this hurdle but their away tie at Ayr was always fraught with danger and, according to co-manager Stuart Kettlewell, County didn’t perform on the day and went down to a narrow one goal defeat.

The draw on Sunday evening could have been better for us at Inverness Caledonian Thistle but could certainly have been worse. Thankfully we are at home against Gary Holt’s Livingston as an away tie on the artificial pitch at Almondvale is one of the last places any team wants to go.

Interestingly, in our early years, we had a terrific friendly rivalry with the Lothian outfit as we both made our way through the divisions. I remember playing in a pulsating end to end Scottish Cup tie at Telford Street in only our second season where, having lost a late equaliser to Livvy we found one last ounce of energy which allowed us to go straight up the pitch from kick off and score a dramatic winner to progress by three goals to two!

Unsurprisingly it was the late, great Alan Hercher who, yet again, came up trumps with that late winner in front of the Howden End – something the big man did time and time again in his career.

That win set us on a memorable Scottish Cup run which culminated in a quarter final tie against Walter Smth’s Rangers side that included Paul Gascoigne and Brian Laudrup which, for safety reasons, we had to play at Tannadice Stadium in Dundee and which attracted a healthy crowd of almost 12,000.

Interestingly the Livingston tie will be played on Saturday, February 8; exactly 20 years on from that unforgettable night Caley Thistle ‘went ballistic’ at Celtic Park and, whilst a repeat of the 3-1 score line that evening would be terrific any win which secures our place in the quarter finals would be most welcome!


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