Lovat skipper targets further silverware
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LOVAT are on the trail of more silverware after retaining the RBS MacTavish Cup with a thumping win over Glenurquhart.
Victorious captain Stuart MacDonald savoured the moment as he held the rosebowl aloft after his side had produced a stunning performance to beat local rivals Glenurquhart 5-1 at Bught Park.
But MacDonald has already set his sights on the future and has urged his team mates to refocus their efforts on maintaining their challenge for the Orion Premiership and the Artemis MacAulay Cup.
“That’s what good teams do — they want to win more and more. We shouldn’t sit back now. We need to use this as a platform to go on for further success,” he said.
He added that he was thrilled with the victory.
“I am proud to be the captain and proud of the boys,” he said. “They were fantastic and I would say that we definitely deserved the victory. It was a brilliant feeling at the end to lift the cup and to get the captain’s caman. Glenurquhart are a good side and they kept going right to the end.
“It is great for our supporters and we got a fantastic reception when we got back to the village.”
For Glenurquhart, who suffered defeat in the final for the second year in a row, there was hardly a crumb of comfort.
Chairman Russell Fraser offered no excuses but tried to remain positive as he surveyed the wreckage of a scoreline no-one had predicted.
“It is fair to say that the whole club is suffering and feeling a bit empty,” he said. “I feel for the lads — they know they did not perform on the day, but we need to move forward. Lovat deserved their victory but for us the season is far from over. It is a case a picking ourselves up, dusting ourselves down and getting ready for next Saturday where we are playing Newtonmore in the league. It is exactly the challenge we need. We cannot go down there feeling sorry for ourselves.”
Both teams went into the match handicapped by injuries to key players. For Glen, John Barr had not fully recovered from a hamstring injury but took up his place as defensive lynchpin. Ally MacKintosh and Michael Brady failed to recover in time.
Lovat fielded both Greg Matheson and Drew Howie and neither were fully fit. It was a risk and it looked to be a poorly-judged one when Howie limped off with two minutes on the clock.
It was a setback but Lovat shrugged it off and two minutes later were in front when Greg Matheson bustled his way through the Glen defence and rifled the ball home from a narrow angle.
Glen looked startled as Lovat continued to pour forward and in the 10th minute Lorne MacKay wasted a good opportunity when he snatched at a loose ball in the penalty area. In a belated response, Glenurquhart’s Lewis MacLennan passed up a half-chance to get his side on level terms.
Surprisingly, Lovat had the upper hand in midfield where Ryan Ferguson was outstanding. Matheson was looking increasingly threatening but in the 25th minute he picked up a knee injury after being downed in the box by Glen’s Fraser Heath. Lovat supporters screamed penalty but the referee was unmoved and booked Ferguson for his remonstrations.
Glenurquhart looked devoid of ideas and Lovat applied the killer touch with two goals in five minutes. The first came from Kevin Bartlett in the 28th minute when he was left unmarked to score from close range and the second from Graeme MacMillan who applied a neat finish from 20 yards.
Glen were relieved to get to the interval without falling further behind and the half-time talk looked to have had the desired effect as they began to threaten the Lovat goal. They were nearly caught in a sweeping counter-attack as Lovat almost made it four when MacMillan’s strike hit the post with the keeper beaten.
Glen’s flickering hopes were extinguished in the 63rd minute when an uncharacteristic mistake by their international full back Barr proved costly with MacKay cashing in with a crisply hit shot from the edge of the penalty area.
The goal appeared to drain the fight from Glen but they found renewed energy and in the 72nd minute their captain Eddie Tembo let fly from distance only to be denied by a fine save by Lovat keeper Stuart MacDonald.
Just as he had in last year’s final MacDonald frustrated Glen but in the 84th minute he was finally beaten by a MacLennan strike.
With the match into added on time, Lovat forced a free hit and from a well-worked routine the ball was played through to MacKay in space and he blasted home to complete the scoring.
Man of the match Ferguson summed up the mood in the victorious camp.
“I am over the moon. Going into the match we were quietly confident but we knew we had to be at our best and to retain the trophy is just unbelievable,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Newtonmore lifted the RBS MacTavish Juvenile Cup with a 3-1 win over Kingussie.
In other matches, Beauly’s title bid in the Marine Harvest National Division looks to be over after a 4-1 defeat by Kilmallie while in the same league Caberfeidh lost 7-3 to Fort William.
The final of this year’s Balliemore Cup will feature Skye and Ballachulish after the Jubilee Park side ousted Aberdour 3-1 in the second semi-final at The Dell.
