Semi finals cottages.com MacTavish Cup
Fort William 4 Newtonmore 3
Fort William reached the cottages.com MacTavish Cup final for the first time since 2011 when they beat Newtonmore 4-3 in their 3pm throw-up at An Aird.
Fort William, the only side from outwith the top flight in the last four of the competition, were without Lewis Clark who was on holiday. Victor Smith started in attack for Fort William who hadn’t played for three weeks.
Newtonmore missed the suspended Steven Macdonald, whilst Duncan MacPherson and Conor Jones were out injured. Craig Ritchie was passed fit to start but Iain Robinson was only able to take a place on the bench.
Fort William got off to a blistering start, giving the home support plenty to cheer about with three goals in the opening 13 minutes. The contest was barely a minute old when Calum Shepherd sent the ball upfield to Graham Campbell on the left. He played the ball low to Victor Smith on the right and his pass was taken on the run by Cam Stephen before he hammered it over Kenny Ross from the right of the D.
Fort William must have felt it could be their day when Lachie Shaw gathered a ball out of defence wide on the left and whipped the ball into the net.
Paul MacKay made a stretching save with his foot to deny Cameron McNiven as Newtonmore fought back. However, Fort William added a third on 13 minutes when Sean MacLellan’s free-hit from the right of midfield was gathered by Graham Campbell and his turn and shot went low into the net by the keeper’s feet.
Newtonmore did get a goal back on 17 minutes. Craig Ritchie held off defender Jamie Duncan, who lost his stick, and ran forward before sending a low, 20-yard drive across keeper Paul MacKay from right of centre.
The teams stopped for a water break soon after.
There was more drama as referee Robert Baxter consulted with the goal judge before awarding Fort William a penalty when Victor Smith was brought down inside the D. Smith needed treatment before getting to his feet, but he blazed the spot-hit over the junction between post and bar to the keeper’s left.
Fort William were reduced to 11 players when a swing from Graham Campbell caught Rory Kennedy around the hand and he needed a hospital visit. Iain Robinson
came off the bench with Iain Richardson going to full back. Craig Ritchie dropped back into defence.
With the tie three minutes into first half stoppage time, Jack Fraser’s low free-hit found Lachie Shaw who swept the ball low into the net from a central position to claim his second goal of the game, giving the hosts a 4-1 interval lead.
Newtonmore gave a senior debut to Joe Coyle and five minutes into the second half he slipped the ball to Struan Ross who steadied himself before shooting. The ball deflected into the net off Fort William full back Jonny Forster.
Newtonmore were awarded a free hit on 61 minutes after Johnny Forster and Iain Robinson tangled on the right. Drew MacDonald chipped the ball into the middle and when it broke for Martin Hall, he sent the ball looping under the bar to make it 4-3.
It was now mostly pressure towards the Fort William goal but Victor Smith spurned a great chance to increase Fort William’s lead when, with keeper Kenny Ross out of his goal, he sent Cam Stephen’s ball from the right wide of target.
The second half water break allowed referee Robert Baxter another chance to receive treatment to a troublesome calf and although Newtonmore had the majority of the pressure afterwards, they were kept out by a hard-working Fort William defence and good goalkeeping from Paul MacKay.
Fort William co-manager Alan Knox said: “We were very good in the first half but, being a man down, we were up against it for most of the second half but held out. We are very happy to reach a senior final.”
Co-manager Neil Robertson added: “It’s always tough against Newtonmore and the red card made it more difficult for us. The second half was all about fight, fight, fight and with a great crowd behind us, I thought we did enough to deserve it.”
Kingussie 3 Skye Camanachd 0
Holders Kingussie beat Skye Camanachd 3-0 at the Dell in what was a repeat of last year’s final.
Savio Genini and Liam Borthwick returned to Kingussie’s starting line-up but James Falconer was still on the injury list.
Skye’s William MacKinnon was back but Ryan Harrison and John Gillies failed fitness tests so there were starts for youngsters Archie Millar and William James Sutherland.
Kingussie broke the deadlock through Ruaridh Anderson on 13 minutes, finishing low into the net at the second attempt from a central position.
Dylan Borthwick doubled their lead on 38 minutes with a turn and shot from the right following Liam Borthwick’s ball from the right.
Heavy rain made conditions in the second half difficult but Lee Bain made it 3-0 on 74 minutes, scoring high into the net after Skye failed to clear their lines following a Kingussie free hit.
Kingussie manager Iain Borthwick said: “We’ve not met Fort William in a final for a few years and we certainly won’t take them lightly.”
Skye boss Willie MacDonald said: “We’re very disappointed, even though we competed well enough. We didn’t have enough in the centre line, but our forwards had chances.”