Both home side Tomatin Utd and Carrbridge struggled to field a full team for their encounter which, in the opening half, was a scrappy affair which failed to excite.

The only high point came through a soft goal for 10 man Carrbridge three minutes from the interval, when Ross McMonagle saw his shot slide through the hands of the United keeper and into the net.

A more entertaining second half was assured when United equalised from the restart as Steven Rodgers converted from close range. Conceding a goal stirred Carrbridge into action and Ian Grant nearly profited from a defensive slip when he fired in a shot in the 51st minute forcing a fingertip save for the United keeper to redeem himself for his earlier error.

The visitors were, however, not kept at bay for long and they took the lead on the hour mark when another defensive mix up allowed Chris Edwards to shoot from close range.

They stretched their lead in the 77th minute when Ian Grant headed home a corner, and it was 4-1 three minutes later, when United's Martin MacLeod headed into his own net from a corner.

However, the Sky Blues grabbed a late consolation goal five minutes from the end with a Martin Kennedy strike. Final score: Tomatin United 2 Carrbridge 4.

The other game was a titanic battle between the present McCook Cup holders, Cromdale, and a resurgent Aviemore RBL. A high scoring game ended with the Aviemore men winning 6-4.

A hat-trick from Andrew McPhee and goals from Gordie Peters, Alan Docherty and Kevin Partridge were enough to secure RBL's semi-final berth, while a brace from Ian Anderson, one from Scott Smith and a Willie Docherty own goal found the net for Cromdale.

This now makes for two excing semi-finals this Friday, with an Aviemore derby between RBL and Thistle, and further up the A9 league leaders Carrbridge playing host to Tomatin.

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