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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