Injuries sweat for Lochaber boss Delaney
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LOCHABER boss Michael Delaney admits his squad is like the “walking wounded” ahead on Saturday’s Camanachd Cup first round trip to face Oban Celtic.
This week, the Spean Bridge club’s manager has been keeping check on four players who sustained injuries in last weekend’s competitive 3-2 North Division One defeat away to leaders Kinlochshiel.
A number of Delaney’s team battled on in a bid to try and get a result against the Shiel, but they face a race against time to be alright for the tie against the South Division One’s basement side.
Neil MacDonald has a chipped bone in his ankle after getting a knock and playing on in the forward line, while Shaun Nicolson needed stitches in his face after being struck accidentally by one of his own players.
The manager’s sons, Ben and Danny Delaney, were also toiling as we went to press. Ben scored the team’s two goals against Kinlochshiel, despite a broken toe, and Danny has ligament damage.
The Belford Hospital in Fort William has been busy with these Lochaber players this week as the boss tries to gather a squad for Oban.
He said: “Our second team are at home to Strathglass in the Aberdein Considine Sutherland Cup, so we can’t exactly take players from there, so we’ll have to monitor our boys this week and see if they can make it.
“I don’t know too much about Oban Celtic, but by all accounts they have had a tough run of games. Apart from a few of our under-17s, none of our players will have played there before. The under-17 players say it’s a tight, but well maintained park, so hopefully we can go there and get the result we need to get through.”
The Oban side have taken just one point from their opening five matches in the league this season and, last weekend, they crashed 4-0 at Taynuilt. They have conceded 26 goals in their games so far.
Saturday’s league defeat for Lochaber means they trail Shiel by four points after four games, but Delaney insists their performances merit better results.
He explained: “We have lost to Kilmallie and Kinlochshiel in the past fortnight and to say we’ve been unlucky would be an understatement. We played very well on Saturday and the defeat was a sore one to take. We scored after just three minutes, but their keeper, Graham Kennedy, has been a thorn in our sides many a time and he was again. He kept them in it. There’s nothing little between the sides and in the past four or five games between us there has only been one goal in it. Kinlochshiel will be delighted to have got the win though with a goal on 80 minutes. There have been games where we haven’t played as well as that, yet we’ve scored four or five, it’s strange. I can only give full praise to the team because many played through the pain barrier as we pushed to get the win.”
Although he was left floored by another top show in the nets from Shiel’s Kennedy, he was delighted by his own young goalkeeper’s performance in such a difficult fixture. He said: “Callum McDonald is only 15, but he really excelled, he was very good. He made a save early on and that really settled him.”
Lochaber’s reserves will hope to bounce back from their 3-1 North Division Two defeat at Lovat when they host Strathglass on Saturday in the Sutherland Cup, in a tie which throws up at 2.30pm.
