Thistle put title party on hold
LEAGUE leaders Newshot missed out on taking home the title after suffering a defeat from closest competitors South Lochaber Thistle.
The visitors to Kinlochleven at the weekend had the opportunity to win the West of Scotland Amateur Football League championship away from home, but the title party was put on hold as the Jags came away with the three points.
South Lochaber had the better of the play throughout the match, out-muscling their opponents.
Still smarting from losing 3- 0 in the semi-final of the League Cup to Newshot, the Jags had the bit between their teeth and battled hard throughout the game.
Thistle always looked dangerous in attack and were unlucky not to take the lead earlier than they did with Lewis Morrison heading over from an Andrew Maclean cross.
And the Jags did take the lead after a ball forward from Danny Mackintosh was topped on by Lewis Morrison deceiving the centre half for Martin Munro to run through on goal before finishing coolly past the visiting keeper.
The second half led to more goal scoring opportunities, but Thistle were unable to take advantage of their dominance.
It was almost to their cost with a Newshot substitu- tion causing problems in the South Lochaber backline with his long throws.
Luckily, the home defence stood strong and saw out the game to become the first team this season to take points off of their opponents.
Man of the match went to Danny Mackintosh, who was industrious in middle of the park.
Speaking about the Jags home win, manager Alan Gray said: ‘ A win like this goes to show how far the team have come this season. The boys deserved their win and we were glad to not have our opponents celebrating a league title on our patch.’
Next week sees South Lochaber Thistle head to Cardross with a win guaranteeing them second place in the league.