On a dreich, cold and wet day at the Eilan, ’More took on Kilmallie with a number of changes forced upon them through injury to Danny Macrae and Rory Kennedy.

Macrae may well be out with a long term cartilage problem, and manager Brick MacArthur was left with little choice but to put Norman Campbell in at full back.

There was also the welcome return of Glen MacKintosh and he was joined by John Mackenzie, who was getting more first team action.

Although Kilmallie were always competitive and determined, it was ’More who looked the stronger from the off.

As early as the fourth minute, MacKintosh forced a great stop from Kilmallie keeper, Kevin Toye. Three minutes later, a collision between John Mackenzie and Kilmallie’s Martin Stewart saw the latter leave the field with a broken tooth.

Newtonmore opened the scoring through Mackenzie who lashed home from the left side after a corner on the right.

Two minutes later David Cheyne hit the side netting with a fierce shot from a narrow angle as the Eilan side pressed to extend their lead.

However, Kilmallie were sometimes breaking well from defence but the home side’s defence was managing the threat.

A couple of further good moves from Newtonmore followed before they went 2-0 ahead when a strong ground shot from David Cheyne on the wide left 18 yards out beat Toye.

Michael Ritchie was forced into a good save in the Newtonmore goal with his feet as Trevor Jackson put a shot on target for Kilmallie.

But the rest of the half saw more action at the Kilmallie goal end without further reward for the home side

Into the second period, and Toye was soon called into action again to pull off a save after Cheyne let fly. Then from the corner, Cheyne went wide with a snap shot on the turn.

In the 55th minute, Evan Menzies hit the side netting with a strong shot from wide on the right.

Newtonmore’s Scott Chisholm (left) tussles with Kilmallie’s Peter Carmichael in midfield.

Newtonmore lost some of their foothold in midfield, but still increased their lead. A neat one two between Menzies and MacKintosh saw the latter fire home from the edge of the D to make it 3-0.

Norman Campbell was then subbed by Owen Fraser.

Mackenzie went close for the Blue and Whites, but his shot hit the post and was cleared on the rebound for a corner.

He was then booked in the 70th minute for speaking out-of-turn, but Newtonmore’s pressure continued unabated as Menzies forced another good save from Toye.

A couple of minutes later, Mackenzie was taken off.

Paul MacArthur forced a good save from Toye, then Ross Lavin fired wide for Kilmallie.

Michael Rodger committed the same cardinal sin as Mackenzie before him and the referee demonstrated that he would brook no dissent as the yellow card saw daylight once again.

As ’More slackened off at the end of the game, the visitors got on the score sheet in the 90th minute when Trevor Jackson was given too easy a chance to slot home.

The game was no classic because of the wet conditions, but the hallmark of Newtonmore’s performance was some superb tackling, clean hitting out of defence and some very good first time shinty when moving the ball out of midfield into attack.

At the Dell, Kingussie had a comfortable enough win over Kinlochshiel in the MacTavish, though they left it late to make certain. Young Ryan Borthwick marked his call up to the senior squad with a hat-trick.

He opened the scoring in the 25th minute with what turned out to be the only goal of the first half.

Kevin Thain established clear water with Kingussie’s second before Neil Fraser reduced the deficit to give the Kingussie support a few nervous moments.

But goals from Borthwick in the 75th and 80th minutes left the result at 4-1 for the Kings.

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