A Positive Start- That’s it-That’s the Headline

Not that a positive start is ever a pointer as to how the season will go- at least not in recent years-but it’s always good to win the Macdonald Cup. Last season we lost out-how one will never know - but this year we had a 4-1 home victory over the old rivals. 

A hat-trick from Man of the Match Daniel Maclean-the umpteenth great-grandson of a hero from the 1880s (other great-grandparents are available)- really finished the game as a contest while a nice strike from wing centre Doug Brockie added to the tally.

Unsurprisingly Daniel was the man of the match- and it’s nice to include a fine portrait of him taken by Neil Patterson to make the day complete.

Before then the Ladies had won the Maclennan Quaich up in Cannich in a 5-1  victory against the home side. Once again Hazel Hunter was in prolific scoring form with four goals to her credit while Kirsty Smith hit one. Hazel picked up the trophy for player of the match.

Finally the Ali Ban saw Glenurquhart win comfortably with Strath struggling to hold the Glen front men. Mike Fraser was the top scorer for the Glen with a personal tally of five, Glenn Macdonald, the eventual MoM hit four while the tally was rounded off by Doug Brockie

                                

All of which takes us neatly to the opening game of the actual season in the Mowi National Division where a goal from John Barr, a second counter from Daniel Maclean and a late close-range finish from Doug Brockie were sufficient to see the Glen safely home 3-1 against a Louie MacLellan goal for Beauly. And if that were all there was to write about the game that would be fine but unfortunately two Beauly lads, Charlie MacRae and Connor Ross got themselves red-carded late in the day and now the lads in green will be facing a run of matches with important players missing.

For various reasons Beauly have lost a few players over the close season-Ryan Mackay, Colin Macdonald and Sandy Elrick seem to have disappeared from their ranks and with these two lads now due a ban then they will struggle more than a little. That of course is in no-one’s interest-certainly not that of Glenurquhart because the way Beauly were playing, they were very liable to take important points away from other teams which would be helpful to the Glen as well as Beauly. They played well in the Lovat Cup holding the Crofters all the way - and with Lovat hitting 10 goals in Oban, Beauly would have had every expectation of challenging this season. Now in a matter of minutes at the end of a game that was lost-albeit in a frustrating way-their season could well and truly have been derailed. They do have Jack Macdonald and Sean Stewart to come back though - and they could help steady the ship. Certainly, I would guess Glen were lucky Jack wasn’t playing- and Sean too.

The Glen has been there too – we’ve lost players in frustrating circumstances – and been forced to carry on. Enough of that for the moment. Suffice to say that Beauly took with them a good group of really nice people to support them and it took the Wing Centre back to the days when these derby games with the teams over the hill were regular affairs. Over the last twenty years we have not played Beauly, Strathglass or Lovat nearly often enough to make the friendships we used to. 

Glen bright spots- a few. Good running forwards, solid defensive play from Lachie Smith, Sean Brown and Tom Edwards but if I were to single out a player for special mention it would be Oliver Black for his tremendous display of taking shies. It’s a specialist skill and on Saturday at least Ollie mastered it- and one of them from out on the left eventually led to Daniel Maclean’s goal just before the half time whistle.

Meanwhile up at Invergarry the Glenurquhart seconds squeaked home to a 5-4 victory against the home side thanks to a late goal from Mike Fraser who picked the Garry’s pocket in the 89^th minute to claim the points.

Glen had rushed ahead into a 2-0 first half lead through Glenn Macdonald and Mike Fraser before a brace from Invergarry’s Nick Dalgetty and a single from Pitkerrald’s own Raymond Robertson saw the ‘Garry take a 3-2 lead. Two strikes from Glenn Macdonald which completed his hat-trick then saw Glenurquhart regain the lead once more. Glengarry fought back however and four minutes from time superNick completed his own hat-trick to bring the sides level at 4-4. Most spectators would have settled for that-honours even and the points shared but Mike Fraser had other ideas and struck the ball home in the 89^th minute to claim both points for the visitors. An excellent result then - and one in which the Glen was able to blood a couple of youngsters- and if the ending had not been so tight doubtless a couple more would have had a run out.

Congratulations in particular to youngster David Fraser who overcame an early knock to bounce back and use his skill and athleticism to make an excellent contribution to the match which included an assist. The more youngsters that manager Gary Marshall can feed through into his side the better because whatever else happens it looks like being a tough year.

There was of course one more game on the day- a home game against G.M.A at in the first game of the season for the WCA Mowi Women’s Premier League.

Despite conceding an early goal the Glen performed creditably, with Hazel Hunter, Kirsty Smith and Rowan Brockie putting plenty pressure on the G.M.A defence.

A second goal from G.M.A shortly after half time was to seal Glenurquhart’s fate. Despite a couple of excellent saves from Keeper Amanda MacLennan, managing to stop and clear a penalty, and strong performances from youth players Jessica Crichton and Emily Van Loon the Glen were unable to break the Glasgow defence and the final result was 2-nil. Congratulations have to go to former Glenurquhart players Freya Gault and Grace Montague who both put in strong performances for G.M.A. on the day

This game was also manager Hugh Montague’s last at the helm as he sadly stepped down after 10 years coaching at GUSC. We wish him well.

 What will this weekend bring?  Time as always will tell. Pictures from a wider range of matches would help

 Thanks for most of the pictures we have as always to Neil Patterson. Thanks to GUSC Facebook and above all thanks to Doug and Ollie for smiling.