Own goal spoils solid season opening game for Fort William
A CRAZY five-minute period early in the second half which saw Fort concede two goals in rapid succession does not tell the whole story of this season opener played in good conditions at Kynoch Park on Saturday.
After a nervy first 10 minutes, Fort settled down to the task in hand and had by far the better of the half.
Fort keeper Martin MacKinnon, on loan for the season from Caley Thistle, had little to do in the first half but unfortunately the visitors could not convert all their possession into goals and the teams went into the interval with a 0- 0 scoreline.
It was a different tale after the re-start, however, when on the 50-minute mark, a quality strike from Keith’s Donald Fraser put the home side ahead.
And just a minute later, Fraser’s free-kick effort saw the ball deflected off Fort’s Andrew MacLean into the visitors’ net.
It was another 70 minutes before the stunned Fort side pulled one back, when a great team effort involving six players eventually saw the ball come to Iain MacLellan, who squared the ball for John Treasurer to tap in from six yards.
That made it 2-1 with 20 minutes to go. Pressure from Fort saw home keeper David Dey forced to make two fantastic saves to deny the visitors what would have been a well- deserved draw.
Fort co-manager Ali Smith was naturally disappointed with the defeat, but said there were still plenty of positives to take from the game.
‘A defeat is always hard to take but, that aside, we were delighted with the commitment and effort shown
Football
by all the players, who gave 100 per cent. There were plenty of positives and we’ll be looking to build on those.
‘We had some good travelling support for the Keith game and hopefully we’ll see really good crowds at Claggan Park for our home games.’