Cottages.com MacTavish Cup – Quarter-Final
Lovat 4 Kilmallie 1
Lovat and Kilmallie met for the second successive Saturday, this time at Balgate, and it was the hosts who set up a semi-final tie against Kingussie with a 4-1 victory.
Lewis Birrell gave Kilmallie the lead on 13 minutes with a great team goal. Kilmallie played nice one-touch shinty to get the ball up the park and Birrell finished well on his backhand, sending the ball high to the keeper’s right.
Lovat lost Lorne MacKay early in the match so Duncan Davidson came on at centre and he drew Lovat level on 26 minutes. Davidson took a short pass from Fraser Heath before striking a shot from a distance high into the net.
Fraser Heath marked his return to the side with goals on 30 and 50 minutes. Greg Matheson was quickly in when the Kilmallie defence failed to clear Marc MacLachlan’s shot and Heath swept the ball home on his backhand to give Lovat a 2-1 interval lead.
Then Duncan Davidson and Marc MacLachlan combined to find Greg Matheson in a good position and he unselfishly touched the ball inside for Fraser Heath who rolled it into the net.
Davidson and MacLachlan were again involved for Lovat’s fourth before Lewis Tawse switched play to the Lovat left. Greg Matheson sent the ball low across goal and Callum Cruden smashed it into the net on his left side to make it 4-1 with 63 minutes on the clock.
Kilmallie boss Martin Stewart said: ‘It is a hard one to take. Our young boys dug in and 4-1 sounds worse than it was. Lovat have a good team but guys like 14-year-old Shane O’Rua did really well for us against a more experienced opponent. We just need to keep going and we’ll get our win eventually.’