Injury concerns for Inverness
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WITH three players out injured and certain to miss the start of the new campaign, Inverness have been left counting the cost of a busy pre-season schedule.
The previous weekend, midfielder Mark Sproule limped off with a knee injury, but on Saturday disaster struck for new signing Zander Grant, who sustained a broken ankle and a cracked rib in an accidental clash in the friendly with Glasgow Mid Argyll at the Bught.
Club officials expect Sproule to miss up to a month of the new season, but Grant’s injury could see the former Kinlochshiel player miss the bulk of the campaign.
Youngster Conor Golabek was also in the wars and he needed 17 stitches in a head wound. However, he was due to miss the first three matches of the season in any case as he serves a suspension carried over from last season.
While two of the Inverness squad ended up requiring hospital treatment, the match was not a physical affair and was played in a good spirit with Mid Argyll edging a 2-1 victory.
The visitors opened the scoring in the 33rd minute through Craig Anderson, but Dougie Ranking levelled just a minute later.
Inverness were under the cosh after that and were indebted to goalkeeper Stuart MacRae, who produced a man of the match performance as he defied the National Division One side.
The Glasgow outfit, however, got their noses in front when Ben Dalgety finally beat MacRae to strike the winner midway through the second half.
Earlier in the day, the reserve sides of the two clubs were in action with Mid Argyll again coming out on top by the narrowest of margins, Lewis Millar’s solitary strike proving the winner.
At the Dell, Beauly put up a creditable showing before falling to a 4-2 defeat at the hands of Kingussie.
The hosts took a first half lead courtesy of Thom Borthwick, but David MacLean restored parity for Beauly just minutes after the restart.
Kingussie’s response was immediate as they scored three times in a devastating five minute period shortly afterwards through Savio Genini, Borthwick and Lee Bain.
Kingussie cruised through the rest of the match, but Beauly got due reward for a dogged display with MacLean converting a penalty late on.
There was mixed success for the area’s Premiership clubs as Lovat, without their international duo of Callum Cruden and Stuart MacDonald, fell to a 2-0 defeat at Mossfield against Oban Camanachd.
Glenurquhart got their pre-season off to a flyer, hammering Skye 5-0 at Blairbeg. Lewis Maclennan and Neale Reid both struck twice for the Glen, while James MacPherson was also on target.
Strathglass also had an encouraging result as they beat Oban Celtic 4-1 to retain the Murdo MacKenzie trophy. Scott Douglas (two) Robert Geddes and an Ally MacAdam penalty secured a comfortable win.
Caberfeidh went down fighting against Premiership reigning champions Newtonmore, eventually losing 5-3, while Fort William beat Inveraray 4-0 at An Aird.
