Defender has final fear after knee injury

“I’m keeping my fingers crossed it will be OK for the final”

Newtonmore’s talented defender Andy Mackintosh faces an anxious wait for the Camanachd Cup final on September 15 after sustaining a painful knee injury in the goalless Premiership draw with Lovat at Kiltarlity.

Mackintosh, last year’s winning Camanachd Cup skipper, sparked fears in the Badenoch camp when he went down. But he said yesterday: “It’s not so bad now as it was after the game.

“It would be terrible to miss the final but I’m off on holiday, so I hope the relaxation will help speed the healing.

“I’m keeping my fingers crossed it will be OK for the final.”

The stalemate ended Newtonmore’s winning sequence of 13 games and it was the first time they have failed to score since losing 1-0 to Kingussie at The Eilean on March 24, after which they reeled off 67 goals in 20 games.

Lovat manager Fraser Gallacher was encouraged with the Camanachd final in mind but admitted his team’s title challenge now seems to have gone.

“He said: We needed both points and failing to win probably puts us out of it”, he said.

“But the fact that we didn’t allow Newtonmore to play well is a boost – they had more of the ball but didn’t really cause problems.

“We had the two best chances, with Thomas Fraser and Greg Mathieson missing clearcut ones.”

He added: “We felt they were trying to provoke Calum Cruden, who is one booking away from a suspension but he didn’t rise to the bait.

“Lorne MacKay is only one booking away from missing the final and Saturday’s game with Kingussie will be the last where a yellow card would rule either out of the big game.”