On Saturday the Neighbours came round to play in our Shinty Bubble

This week we had yet another two Covid-secure games of shinty- both of them against our near neighbours Beauly. To Drum people of this generation, Beauly always seems a little posh: they have a square, an upmarket tweed shop, a Deli, an Italian café (the Wing Centre’s special favourite) , a classy antique shop, Munro the Butchers and of course should they need it-and many of them do-Calum Fraser from Glenurquhart is there to test their eyes. Those of us of an older generation remember that it wasn’t always quite so posh however- and back in the day when the antecedents of the Wing Centre’s good lady were denizens of Ferry Road there used to be a regular column in the press called “The Chirpings of a Beauly Gutter-sparrow.” This column used to lay out the gossip and dirty laundry of the villagers for all to see and no doubt caused mirth and annoyance in equal measure.

What would the sparrow have said this week after the two games in Drum? We don’t actually know but there is a report about Saturday’s two games against the Glen on the Beauly Shinty Club Face book page. While the report was kind to the Glen in some ways it was also sketchy on Drum details and so it falls upon the Wing Centre to set the record straight.

Glen 2nds 1     Beauly 2nds 5

This was an interesting fixture for the Glen in that in order to accommodate Beauly’s young team- it was more or less their under 17s- the Glen felt obliged to stand down a number of their more experienced players and fill out the side with youngsters. The result was the Glen lined up as follows with the inclusion of a number of schoolboys who were making their debuts. Also included in the line up were ladies’ players Ishbel Barr and Hazel Hunter.

The game was quite evenly matched from the outset with  nothing much between the sides in the early exchanges. The Glen’s young midfield performed well with full centre Chris Mack putting in an excellent shift. Despite an  early knock to Ishbel Barr which meant that she had to leave the field, the Glen kept their focus and  Hazel Hunter who had taken up position at full-forward played a leading part in the match and although physically tested by Beauly full-back Ewan MacCormick,  her pace , her  skill and her constant switching of positions meant she was always a threat.

However it was at the other end that the opener came when after some neat forward play Finlay MacLennan found enough space away from his marker to knock the ball past Glen’s keeper  youngster Craig Fraser to put the visitors ahead with a fine finish.

For the rest of the half Beauly continued to have the greater possession but strong defending from and a couplie of good saves from Fraser meant Beauly were unable to extend their lead before half-time.

After the break, Beauly continued to push forward and were able to double their advantage through youngster Callum MacIver who profited from a slip by Glen full-back Callum Miller. This was a good little contest all afternoon. 15 year old MacIver is a pacy and wholehearted player who competes well but credit must also go to Miller who played him fairly and stuck to the spirit of the game all afternoon.

The Glen then came back into the game for a period, but the Beauly defence played well limited any shooting chances. Eventually in the 71^st minute a quick ball up the left-hand side from Chris Mack was knocked across by Ewan Carroll and fell invitingly for Hazel Hunter who outpaced her defender and first-timed the ball home past Beauly keeper Lennox Stewart from just outside of the “D”.

Though Hazel is no stranger to goal scoring in the ladies’ game, this was her first goal at senior level and delighted the committee members present who have seen her progress through the ranks at the club from the Primary teams upwards.

Beauly still had the edge though and as the Glen youngsters ran out of steam two examples of excellent finishing by Rory Tuach and a late strike from Finlay Maclennan saw referee John Matheson blow the final whistle on a final score of 5-1.

 

Glen 3 Beauly 1

Glen made a superb start in this match going 2-0 ahead inside the first three minutes-not the start that Beauly would have expected. This was in fact a good Beauly team with David Maclean back in their ranks after his spell at Newtonmore. Not that it made much difference to the Glen who were far from at full strength with their students Cameron McIntosh, Finlay Ralston and Fergus Robertson missing as well as Oliver Black who looks to be a long-term absentee after damaging ligaments in training.

The opening goal was an excellent one with the ball fired up from the hit off by Conor Golabek to David Maclennan. He laid it off quickly to Josh Macdonald-Haig and his excellent strike from a tight angle gave Beauly keeper Lee Dunbar no chance.

The second followed almost immediately when directly from the hit off Glen forced a corner. The strike was taken by Jamie Maclennan who profited from a piece of good fortune when the ball took a deflection of a divot on the pitch and flew past a helpless Dunbar to put the Glen two up with Beauly wondering what hit them.

To be fair to them, Beauly then began to play a bit and their physical centre-line began to win more of the bar but despite this they were unable to create any real chances – and with John Barr, Lachie Smith, Finlay Robertson and Cameron Bremner solid at the back, Glen keeper Stuart Mackintosh had only one save to make. Half time score 2-0 for Glenurquhart.

The second half saw Beauly continue in positive mode and their front men were able to link up well and from time to time create chances. Glen keeper Mackintosh kept out a good attempt from Calum Flynn and they finally got their goal when Jack Macdonald was able to find the same divot on the pitch to wrong foot Mackintosh and bring the Greens back into the game.

Beauly were unable to profit from this fillip however and though they continued to play well the Glen defence remained secure-and the centre line of Mike Fraser, Liam Robertson and Conor Golabek proved hard to get past. Finally,  with the clock ticking down to the end of the game Glen’s Conor Golabek pounced on a loose ball at the edge of the box and fired it past Dunbar to make the final score 3-1 in favour of the Glen.

An entertaining game certainly- and we saw enough from Beauly to understand that with their wanderers back they are a side with potential. For the Glen the message is that their defence-most of whom have had recent Premier League experience- are a match for anyone. Elsewhere the players are a fair match for any other side and with the prospect of Saturday’s absentees being in the picture when the sport returns the future looks good.

Many thanks as always to Neil Patterson for the photographs.

 

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Second week of Covid-secure shinty in the Glen.

 

Glenurquhart 6 Inverness 0

“OK Peloton, let’s go” said the President to the team- and quite right too because after having had one genuine match after the restart of the indigenous sport the players were keen to have more-and even more hopefully- as was the whole committee. And so, it came to pass this past weekend that Inverness S.C. were good enough to come out to Blairbeg to give us a game.

Not that anyone was allowed to see it because of the Co-vid regulations and so unless someone had a defined role as either a match official or a team official there was no way the game could be viewed. 

It was not advertised on social media and naturally there was no income of any sort to be derived from it. Indeed, Glenurquhart Shinty Club has taken in no income from the pavilion teas or at the gate since the Macdonald Cup game in March- and because of a quirk of the rating system which left us without a number we did not receive any Co-vid fund money from the Highland Council. Other luckier Clubs have received sums up to £10,000 and good on them. The Glen however, have bad lucked out.

 What income we do have has come thanks to our sponsors and the generosity of our players and supporters who have supported for four months an online lottery which has helped us keep going.

Bearing this in mind the Wing Centre sat waiting for text updates from the park and while he felt happy that he was not out in the pouring rain, he was definitely most unhappy to listen in on Sportsound to some specialised whingeing from Scottish football’s representatives about not being allowed spectators at matches.

That the spokesman who was doing most of the whingeing was Aberdeen’s Willie Miller only made things worse. Everyone of a certain age will recall Willie Miller with distaste remembering how he and Liverpool’s Alan Hansen, managed to get Scotland ejected from the 1982 World Cup finals with a catastrophic failure of judgement that could only have been scripted by MI5 to undermine the national psyche.

One could go on- but if you are sitting in the house unable to watch a shinty match because you feel that the Co-vid rules have to be obeyed for the good of your family, friends and neighbours and you hear the sort of entitled nonsense coming from the world of football you are allowed to be angry. What is it they don’t get?

Still the news from the field when it came through was good. The Glen with a sprinkling of older players but with some excellent youngsters put on a solid performance against a young Inverness side who were in no way disgraced.

Let’s face it-the Glen defence was pretty much premier standard with Stuart Mackintosh in goals, John Barr at full-back and Lachie Smith at buckshee. You can see the top sides in the Premiership and one or two in the National League giving them a game but not many others. However, with Conor Golabek in the middle and James “Frostie” Macpherson in pole position the youngsters on the side-lines were well supported. The only real disappointment for the home side was that forward Oliver Black who had damaged an ankle in training was unable to complete the warm up and could not take the field.

The team pool was as follows: Stuart Mackintosh, John Barr. Lachie Smith, Rory Maclean, Finlay Robertson, Jamie Maclennan, Liam Robertson, Conor Golabek, Ej Tembo, Josh Macdonald-Haig, James Macpherson, Oliver Black, Charlie Macleod, Ryan Porter and Thomas Stebbings.

It took the Glen about 12 minutes to open their account. This came when a long ball up from mid-field was pulled out of the air on the left-hand side by youngster Jed Stoddart and he dispatched a powerful back hand shot over the shoulder of Inverness keeper Kenny Loades and into the net for the opener.

Inverness, prompted by the experienced MacMaster brothers, picked up a little at this point but though they did manage to get some ball forward Mackintosh in the Glen goal had very little to do but tidying up.

Glen’s second goal came in 27 minutes when Frostie Macpherson found himself in possession about 25 yards out. As he always would, he fired in a shot from distance which somehow managed to find its way through keeper Kenny Loades’ legs. An unlucky break perhaps for a keeper who otherwise showed-particularly in his ability to thwart Conor Golabek- that he is no mean figure between the sticks.

The last quarter of the first half saw the Glen strike a third goal to basically seal the tie. Once again Jed Stoddart picked a ball fired up from the midfield-this time by Jamie Maclennan. Stoddart gathered in the ball and fired from a tight angle with his low shot just finding the net inside the far post.

The same player was unlucky not to add a fourth goal just before the break but the Inverness keeper redeemed himself for his earlier mishap to make a fine save and keep the differential to 3-0 as referee John Matheson blew the whistle for half-time.

The next Glenurquhart strike was not long in coming with Josh Macdonald-Haig playing the ball down the line for youngster Charlie Macleod to fire home from a tight angle.

The game settled for a brief spell as Glenurquhart seemed to take their foot off the throttle but that pause in momentum only lasted as long as the 70^th minute when the Glen notched up their fifth strike of the afternoon. This time the ball forward was a long crossfield effort from Liam Robertson. This took a deflection off an Inverness defender and landed kindly for Jed Stoddard who completed his hat-trick with a powerful drive from about the penalty spot which found the net despite the best efforts of Loades to keep it out.

The Inverness keeper did better a few minutes later when he once again thwarted Golabek but, not to be denied, the Glen completed their afternoon with a sixth goal, this time from Josh Macdonald-Haig who took the ball past his marker and slid it home from just outside the “D” to finally clinch the 6-0 victory.

A good performance then with special performances from Jed Stoddart and Charlie Macleod and despite his lack of luck in front of goals Conor Golabek who as usual put in a power of work. Jamie Maclennan and Liam Robertson also performed well on what was, as the pics will testify, a difficult pitch in appalling conditions.

Credit too to inverness who were happy to participate and of course to the officials on both sides who applied the Co-vid rules effectively and ensured that for the second week in a row, the Glen could get back to shinty.

Thanks to Garry and his phone for the pics - the guess is that the phone is owed the bigger congratulation.

Football? Who cares?

 

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