The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Smith back in business
Goalkeeper hopes to repay McInally
Scottish boxer Mike Towell is in a critical condition in hospital after being stretchered from the ring during a British title eliminator.
The 25-year-old suffered a fifth-round loss to Dale Evans in a St Andrews Sporting Club fight at the Radisson BluHotel in GlasgowonThursday nightand was rushed to Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.
The event was suspended after Towell’s fight.
Ma n a g e r Tommy Gilmour travelled with Towell in an ambulance from the event and was at his bedside through the night with his family.
To w e l l , from Dundee, had been undefeated going into the British welterweight title eliminator, with 11 previous wins and one draw on his professional record.
The bout was refereed by Victor Loughlin, who was also in charge of the British middleweight title fight in March between Chris Eubank and Nick Blackwell, which ended the latter’s career after he suffered a bleed on the skull when he was stopped in 10 rounds.
Evans said: “I am devastated and all my thoughts are with Mike and his family.
“The ingredients were there for an entertaining fight and it was that, we are both punchers and so sadly for Mike he came out the wrong side.
“He is such a fantastic fighter, you are happy to win but all I wanted to do was get the victory. Not this.
“That was so hard for his family and my heart goes out to them.” Peterhead are already 11 points behind League 1 leaders Alloa Athletic but manager JimMcInally is refusing to panic.
The Balmoor club reached the play-offs last term with a thirdplace finish, but have made a stuttering start to this campaign.
The Blue Toon are chasing a second league win of the season this afternoon when they host Livingston, who are only a point behind leaders Alloa and Brechin.
McInally said: “I expected LivingstonandAlloa tobenearthe top and after that I thought it would be a pretty close call between the rest of the teams. Airdrie are full-time now so I did expect them to be higher up the division than seventh, but it is still early days.
“We know we are capable of Peterhead goalkeeper Graeme Smith is determined to repay manager Jim McInally after returning to the first team. The 33-year-old made his first appearance for the Balmoor side for five weeks in last week’s 2-1defeat by Brechin City. O n - l o a n Hunt ly player Fraser Ho b d a y has deputised while Smith recovered from a heel injury, but the former Rangers and St Johnstone goalkeeper is ready to play his part helping the Blue Toon move up the table. He said: “It was great to get back in last week, but I thought I was at fault for Brechin’s winning goal. “I was comfortable for most of the day apart from that mistake. “The only way I can rectify that is by training hard and getting regular games again. “Fraser did well when he came in, but the manager opted to put me back in so I have to try to repay him with some good performances. “I had been struggling with a heel injury since the start of the season. “I was trying to manage it to get through games but it became too sore after the East Fife game. “It was better to get it fixed and miss three or four games rather than making it worse and ending up missing 30 games through injury. “It wasn’t easy being out of theteamas Iwant to play every week, but the best thing for the benefit of me and the team was to get it sorted. “Hopefully that is my injuries over for the season going on a winning run that can move us up the table, but it is easy talking about it – we need action.
“However, if we play like we did against Brechin on Saturday, especially in the second half, then we will be fine.”
McInally has warned his players they must be ready for a Livingston side that will be eager to bounce back after ending last week’s 3-1 and I can now concentrate on doing well for the team.”
It has been a sluggish start to the season from Peterhead, second bottom of League 1 with only five points from seven matches.
If Smith gets the nod to maintain his starting berth against Livingston he is expecting a busy afternoon against David Hopkin’s title contenders.
Smith said: “We have been slow starters over the last few seasons but teams will start to gain ground on us the longer that goes on.
“I have to try to repay the manager with some good performances”
“We know it hasn’t been a good enough startbut it is such a tight league that if we put three or four results together we can quickly get up the league.
“We are second bottom, but had we won last week and other results had gone our way we could have been fifth.
“It is a crazy league but wewant to pickupasmany points as we can early in the season to give us a bit of leeway for the rest of the campaign.
“We went on a fantastic run last season that propelled us into the play-off positions and we want to do exactly the same in the coming months.”
HOW THEY STAND
defeat by East Fife with nine men afterMichaelMiller and Alan Lithgow were sent off.
The Peterhead manager added: “It’d give everyone a big lift to win this one, but it is going to be tough. Being a full-time club in this league is a big advantage. But we will go into the match with the belief and hope that if we play well then we should be good enough to win.”