Skye must not be the limit !

Semis of the MacTavish or a win over Oban Camanachd? Go ahead - you choose. Well, the Wing Centre would have chosen the win over Camanachd because in all honesty at the time it seemed that it was worth more to the team - or maybe it just appeared that way when viewed through the half empty glass through which Yours Truly darkly peers at the world of shinty.
In the end no choice was required because the Glen got both results as well as a 1-1 draw with Kingussie seconds - and that was when the loss of a point at home to Kyles really hit home.

 

So here we are on the verge of crossing over the bridge to the former Isle of Mist to take on Skye - live on radio. It doesn’t get any better than this. Well it has to and perhaps will if we suddenly find some real goal scoring form or someone finds a way to clone Fraser Heath.

 

One or two things have annoyed this season though. The biggest one is the fact that a Glen player received a one match ban on the totting up system for a booking he should not have received. Yep - it’s out in the open. The ref booked a Glen player-rightly for a misdemeanour-but misidentified him.
Perhaps the ref forgot to note the number down at the time or simply thought he knew who the culprit was but didn’t really. First thing the club knows about it is when the paperwork comes through with the wrong player identified - and sadly that player was then banned for one game because he had done some stuff wrong last year.
Can the Glen appeal it?
No the Glen cannot- and now the player was not only out for a game but also has points on his record which in future may see him out for an even more important game. There might be a case for no appeal against a situation where the referee has interpreted an action as nefarious when in the opinion of others he was a little harsh in his judgement-but a simple case of mistaken identity which appears to be a genuine mistake? Come on.

Let’s just hope the Glen kids turn out alright-though to be fair with a 3-0 win over ‘Shiel under-17s and a 5-0 victory over Lochaber they seem to be OK so far. As ever of course the proof will be when the kids play against the Badenoch youngsters. We have been here so many times it isn’t true; every Glen generation has a story about the great lost hope-the lad who could keep to Ronald Ross in the juveniles. What happens to them? What happens is that they do not translate their talent into the seniors- and that is true for every other side-and  maybe it’s even true about Kingussie now though there remains a sneaking feeling that Badenoch always  bounces back.

Enough of girning already.
But before then just one last thing-in all the talk of sports facilities being revamped in the exciting new Inverness not a word has been heard about a wee revamp of the Bught. Given that shinty is the one sport which has its national HQ in Inverness it might have been though that some cash ought to have been put into facilities for the old game. Is there even an Astro which can take full size shinty? Not at all and is there likely to be? No- but doubtless there will be a velodrome before long. A shintydrome? Not even in Oban which has four shinty teams is there a full size astro for the shinty-indeed the chance to have one was blocked off recently because the rugby lads would not share. Maybe the CA ought to be pushing Candidate Hendry about how he is going  to further the cause.

The Wing Centre really have to stop this: he’s been reading Daniel’s BBC Blog and has been carried away by revolutionary fervour.

Daniel played for Oban Camanachd of course and last weekend the Glen edged to a 1-0 win over Camanachd as mentioned above. Though why Oban would want to annoy the Glen by turning up in Lovat strips eludes this writer. Anyway, for a few days the Wing Centre was feeling a little flat because the side had not played that well, though Fraser Heath’s goal was well taken. Oban will feel that they switched off for that one certainly. Then again Oban appeared to be a fit and competent side with young Connor Howe up front doing well but needing a bit of back up from Lorn Dickie and Andrew MacCuish-though the Glen defence were pretty solid.

In the end Oban missed chances they should have at least put on target while the Glen could easily have won it 2-0 when Paul Mackintosh fired a rasper just past the post which Oban keeper Robert Dunnings would have struggled to handle if it had been on target. Such are the narrow margins by which Premier shinty sides thrive or fail. Not that you need to tell the Glen that: that much was clear in the Kyles match.
The seconds now move on to play Lovat in some cup or other- and these are difficult games to predict. As always, it depends on who is in the side - or rather both sides. The last time the youngsters were playing they picked up a 1-1 draw with Kingussie in an excellent competitive match in which Kings, to be fair to them ,didn’t walk it by simply sticking Ronald up on the dust.
In that context it was very sad to hear of the sudden loss to Kingussie and to its club of ‘Andy’ Anderson. He was with the Kingussie side in the Glen two Saturdays ago and had a blether with the Wing Centre, Alan Bell and a pile of the older Glenners who’ve known him over the years. Of course he was a shinty great and all the rest of it- but above all he was cheery and enjoyed the crack with everyone- and for that he will be greatly missed. The sympathy of the “D” and all at the Glen club go out to the Anderson family at this sad time.

The pictures from the three games are from Sheena Lloyd. Thanks to her for these.