Hat trick hero says resilience could bring Lovat shinty glory

By Will Clark

Published: 08:00, 03 June 2022

Hat trick hero Fraser Heath says Lovat’s victory at Newtonmore in the Camanachd Cup shows how resilient the team have become this season.

The Kiltarlity outfit came from behind twice to defeat Newtonmore 3–2 with Heath scoring all three goals.

Heath says the result indicated that Lovat have become a force who can get the better of the top teams in the country.

“Newtonmore are a formidable outfit who in recent years won the Camanachd Cup four years on the trot,” he said.

“But last Saturday showed how resilient we are.

“Playing at Newtonmore is always difficult, especially with their home support.

“They always seem to pick up that extra gear and battle on the pitch.

“But we have shown this season how resilient we are considering we were short of players ourselves.

“I think that is a good sign for us.

Lovat’s reward for defeating Newtonmore is a quarter final draw against either Kilmallie or Inveraray.

Heath says he didn’t mind who they face in the last eight, but is pleased the tie will be played at Balgate.

“It doesn’t matter what team we are going to face in the quarter finals.

“Getting a home tie was the more important thing to us to give us a home crowd which gives us an extra boost.

“However in the Camanachd Cup, every team that takes part is always up for it.

“Regardless of who we play against, we have to perform, but having home advantage is an important factor.”

Lovat return to league action tomorrow as they welcome Caberfeidh to Balgate.

Lovat have only dropped one point this season and have four games in hand on league leaders Kingussie who are nine points in front.

Heath says they are capable of challenging Kingussie, if their squad can remain fit throughout the season.

“We are going to give it a good go, but it could be dependent how injury prone we are towards the latter stages of the season.

“We can be contenders, but it depends on the squad’s mentality.”