Holding the Fort…. or, on the other hand, not holding them.

A final week of shinty saw Victor and Addie take Felix, Arran and a pile of youngsters up to Drum to play an equally young Glen side which, honestly would not have been as young as it was if all hands had been on deck. Should it have gone ahead in the conditions? Probably not given the gutter it made of the park though the drier weather this week should help its recovery.

In the end it was a good win for Fort -by 4 goals to 0- but the trouble with Covid games is that no-one actually sees them so if the Fort win in Drum and no-body actually sees them, did the game ever happen? 

The Wing Centre was walking through the rain contemplating this idea when he met Bodach a’Ghlinne.

“How did the Glen get on last Saturday?” said the Bodach.

“They lost 4-0”

“Who got the goals?”

“Victor got three and a young fellow got the fourth”

“Is Victor still playing for the Fort. He’s hardy. He must be away up in his 60s by now.”

Now there is not much point in saying anything to the Bodach when he gets an idea in his head – and you could see he was enthusiastic about the idea of Victor playing at an advanced age- and went on to say that he saw him here and there in finals and he saw him in an international jersey and he was so quick and could turn on a sixpence….. etcetera..... etcetera.

Then came the clincher.

“You know I think he was even better than Deke.”

Well most of us would disagree with that but the Bodach is the Bodach and the statement was allowed to stand unchallenged.

However it was good of the “Fellow who was better than Deke” and his mate Addie - who was better than Ronald Ross at least once - to come up to Blairbeg with his a team to play a mixed squad of Glenners. To be fair the pitch probably was on the edge of being playable and if it wasn’t for the fact the match was taking place early in the day when it was dry and bright then it might not have gone ahead. It must be remembered too that our opponents were from Fort William and guys there are used to playing water-shinty on An Aird so the conditions would always suit them.

However, before the game got under way referee Tina Marshall called a minute’s silence for the late Neil Clark a former Fort player of the Wing Centre’s generation. Neil was a lovely guy and a gentleman and the Wing Centre played against him back in the day when the Pulp Mill was in full flow, Claggan was the venue and fellows like Hughie, Sunny, Towser, Staffy and Copper were wearing the yellow jerseys. I think even Astie was playing back then.

“I heard he was even playing on Saturday as well,” said the Bodach. “You’ve got to hand it to him at his age.”

Of course, the Wing Centre had never seen the game and to clear matters up he gave Neil Paterson a call- and he provided a list of players

 

Paul Mackay / Stuart Disher (Keepers - one half each)

Hamish Shaw

Craig Macdonald

Astie Cameron

Jack Fraser

Rhys Kennedy

Johnny Foss

Gordon Stevenson

Arran Macphee

Victor Smith

Grant Disher

Cameron Stephen

So there it was - as clear as clear could be - both Victor and Astie were playing.

Despite turning out against such top opposition the Glen used some of their youngsters (qv)

Iain MacLeod (Keeper)

John Barr

Billy Urquhart

Josh Macdonald Haig

Thomas Stebbings

Jed Stoddart

Cameron Bremner

Frosty Macpherson

David Dixie MacLennan

Chris Mack

Jamie MacLennan

Finlay Robertson

Michael Fraser

Angus MacCallum

The game started evenly enough though it was clear from the outset that Fort William had the slight edge and though they had one or two chances- as was true at the other end where Dixie Maclennan and Frosty Macpherson got close to putting pressure on the Fort backline of Jack Fraser and Astie Cameron

However, in 25 minutes it was Victor Smith who struck the first telling blow when he gathered a ball some 20 yards out from goal and fired his shot home. There was now neat interpassing coming from the Fort front men with youngster Rhys Kennedy catching the eye and it was from his good work that goal number two came when a deflection off Glen keeper Iain Macleod fell kindly for Smith inside the box and his close-range finish put the Fort two up.

Glen then passed up a great chance to get back into the game when keeper Paul “Felix” Mackay was judged to have clearly kicked the ball inside the box as he scampered out to clear. Fort William goal-judge Willie Macdonald - now there was a man who actually was better then Deke - had no hesitation in raising his flag and Tina awarded a penalty. You would usually bet on Frosty Macpherson to fire a penalty home but though the Glen forward got the strike on target Felix  was good enough to stop Frosty’s low shot however and from that blow  the Glen were unable to recover

Glen came out after the break looking to rectify matters but weren’t able to make much headway though one contest that did enthral was the centreline duel between Glen’s Mike Fraser and Fort’s Arran Macphee. Honours were even but Macphee’s balls forward were made more effective use of by the Fort front men though they found Glen keeper Macleod in excellent form. He pulled off a number of excellent stops including one from Smith who attempted to glance a ball first time into the top corner only to find the Glen man pulling off a tremendous reflex save.

Fort had changed their keeper at the break with youngster Stuart Disher taking over between the sticks from Felix Mackay who found himself fired up to wing-forward. Young Disher looks a good prospect and he had to look lively on a couple of occasions as Glen tried to force their way back into the contest. It was not to be however and though the Glen back line of John Barr, Billy Urquhart , Cameron Bremner and Finlay Robertson had put in a good shift Smith proved that after all these years he still had it when in the 77^th minute he turned quickly away from his man and fired the ball low into the bottom corner to make it 3-0 . It was an excellent hat-trick and if the Covid Officer had not known the club was so strapped for cash, he would have let Victor take the match ball home.

At this point, the heavens opened and the pitch began to deteriorate rapidly especially in the goalmouth at the shop end. With the game so close to its conclusion ,Tina let the struggle continue and by the end, Fort had added another. This time Felix Mackay who was proving he could play a bit, had played the ball wide and 15-year-old Cameron Stephen following up the initial phase of play was on hand to finish the match off with an excellent shot to make it Fort 4 Glen 0.

Despite the weather then a good experience for all the players and another game completed in the time of Covid. Disappointing for the Glen who could have done with Lachie Smith, Conor Golabek and Liam Robertson to make the contest tighter - but let’s face it these days it’s the taking part that actually counts.

Many thanks to Tina Marshall for officiating- she did an excellent job- and thanks to Fort for travelling. Above all thanks to photographer Neil Paterson for providing some excellent illustrations of the afternoons sporting activity.

 

** It turned out that after this was sent to the President for approval, a phone call was received shortly afterwards.

“Were you at the game?”

“No sir. We cannot go because of the pandemic”

“Well for a start you were too kind to Fort William- and for another it was young Victor who got the goals not the old fellow”

“You mean Old Vic wasn’t playing.”

“Of course he wasn’t playing. What’s more Astie wasn't playing either; it was his wee fellow, young Astie who was there. That was a shame for us certainly. if Old Astie had been playing, we’d definitely have scored at least five. Young Alexander's a good player-he can read the game; old Astie is better at reading the tea leaves.”

“What do I do now?”

“Change the report.”

In the end and after the Wing Centre found out that the girls squad had lost to Inverness he didn’t feel he could be bothered -so here is the original.

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