Fort through to cup quarter final
Fort William 4 Elgin City 0
North of Scotland Cup
A YOUTHFUL Elgin City side made the mid-week journey to Claggan park last Wednesday evening for their North of Scotland Cup tie with Fort William.
Having made the final of this competition last year, Fort were keen to get off to a solid start.
After a scrappy first few minutes, Liam Taylor got on the end of a long through ball down the left flank and whipped in a cross which was met by Scott Hunter, who stopped to nod the ball into the net.
Just before half-time, Scott Hunter could have scored a contender for ‘goal of the season’. After an audacious flick over the defenders’ head, he swiveled and shot first time on the volley, but the ball just flew over the crossbar.
The second half began in similar style with the home side pressing high up the pitch, spurred on by a boisterous home support. A second goal did come for the Lochaber side just 10 minutes into the second half.
Scott Hunter chased down and robbed Elgin goalkeeper Trevor Dear before coolly laying it back to Treasurer on the edge of the box who deftly chipped the stranded keeper.
Fort William then began to dominate the play and controlling the tempo with the whole team working hard to press and move as a unit.
With less than 10 minutes to go, Fort William were awarded a penalty after Scott Hunter was caught in the head by a high foot in the box. Michael Ellis stepped up to calmly slot the ball past the keeper.
John Treasurer rounded off the scoring for the home side in the last couple of minutes, making the most of another Elgin defensive error to make it 4-0.
Fort William will now play Forres Mechanics in the quarter-finals.
Fort William 1 Strathspey Thistle 5 Highland League
A TEN-MINUTE capitulation in the first-half was the ultimate undoing for Fort William in their tie with fellow strugglers Strathspey Thistle.
Billed as a ‘bottom of the table clash’, it was Strathspey Thistle that prevailed at Claggan Park on Saturday, consigning Fort William to the foot of the Highland League.
After their midweek cup tie against Elgin City, the Fort made a number of changes to the starting line-up. Most notably, Liam Taylor shifting to defence while Iain MacLellan returned to lead the forward line.
After a tense period of play, Strathspey took the lead on the half hour mark through midfielder Cameron Lisle.
Less than five minutes later Scott Lisle doubled the visitors’ advantage, before scoring again just three minutes later. Stunned by this flurry of goals, half-time couldn’t come quick enough for the Fort, who suddenly found themselves 3-0 down.
After regrouping at half-time, it took just 10 minutes for them to do just that as Iain MacLellan pulled a goal back.
As Fort continued to push forward, Kai Taylor and Adam MacLeod made the most of the extra space in the Fort defence, scoring two late goals in quick succession to make it a 5-1 win for Thistle.
Fort have little time to dwell on this results as they make the long trip north for their league match against Lossiemouth on Wednesday night.