Weak Fort side put to the sword by Orcadian raiders

Orkney Fort William 4 0 North Caledonian League

Orkney’s raiding party to the mainland proved highly successful as Fort William managed only to rediscover the inconsistency which has plagued their season, Peter Newman.

Played at the neutral venue of Morrison Park in Caithness, Fort William had a squad which featured nine changes to the side which had destroyed Bonar Bridge 8-0 in the previous round of fixtures.

Here though, the threadbare writes nature of the bench saw both of the management team and 41-year-old retirees called up at the last minute to ensure cover in case of injury.

And it could not have gone worse for the Lochaber men.

Jamie Tulloch opened the scoring with 10 minutes on the clock, finishing with a tame dribble past the despairing Kit Fletcher in goal after some fine scampering play by Orkney’s winger.

The fact that this was the “home” side’s third decent opportunity in such an early zone of the match demonstrates the weakness of the Fort resistance as well as the profligacy finishing.

Tulloch then turned provider, jauntily wandering away in enough space to celebrate the arrival of British Summer Time. His driven pass was thumped into the net by Aidan Drever, unmarked at the back post and thanking his lucky stars to be playing this team on this day.

Tulloch’s second goal also arrived before half time and effectively settled this encounter as any sort of contest. A ball across the face of goal was parried by Fletcher into his pass and he turned it back into the net unmarked and undeterred.

It could be said that the second half was better. But only by someone not watching it.

Admittedly, the islanders only scored one goal but Orkney hit the bar. Fletcher was called into thwart their forwards several times and it was only 10 minutes into the second half when Liam Delday made it 4-0.

Veteran midfielder Dave Forbes whiffled a free kick onto the roof of the net and youngster Robbie Rydings hit the side netting for Fort but it was a brutal lesson in the result of playing at this level with no heart or commitment.

Manager Alan Gray said: “Simply put, we weren’t good enough on the day. 4-0 actually wasn’t as bad as it could have of the

Orcadians’ been as Orkney had far more opportunities than they took.

“We’re disappointed to lose in that manner, as we expect better of our players and ourselves.

“We did threaten a little more in the second half but it was not an acceptable level of performance. We need to make sure we are significantly better next time out.”