The first half was very even with Mark Taylor in the home goal bringing off two great instinctive saves, including a dive to his left and palming the ball to safety in mid-air.

And it was the home side that had an interval lead when Ian Grant brought his tally for the season to three with a shot from the edge of the D after a sharp move from one end of the park to the other.

Kincraig dominated the second period now having the wind advantage and their defence and centre line mopped up any Strachur forays forward.

Donnie Ross scored the important second goal with a grounded drive from the left wing that defeated Donut Macdonald in the Strachur goal.

A third goal to cap a fine day for the Badenoch men came in the final minute when sub John Clark pounced on loose defensive play to tap home.

Newtonmore had a comfortable 3-0 win at Boleskine but Kingussie had a much tougher task to overcome Lochside Rovers down in Oban. The game finished as a 6-6 draw after extra time with the Badenoch side winning through 4-3 in a penalty shoot-out.

Two other shoot-outs featured in the Sutherland with Bute defeating Aberdeen University 2-0 on penalties after the game in Aberdeen ended 2-2 after extra time.

The match featured a welcome return to refereeing for Calum Duff, who has had second thoughts after resigning at the end of the controversial Newtonmore-Fort William cup tie last season. He cited the greater support for referees as his main reason for coming back into the fray.

The other shoot-out was at Inveraray, where after a 4-4 draw, Inveraray won through 2-0 in the penalty stakes.

Biggest winners of the day were Fort William, 6-0 at Inverness; Glen Urquhart, 5-0 at Beauly and Kyles Athletic, 5-0 at Col Glen.

Strathglass could only muster a 2-2 normal time result at home to Taynuilt but their superiority told in the half hour extra time and they came through by a 6-2 margin.

In the Balliemore Cup, Caberfeidh had an avalanche of a win at home to Oban Celtic thanks to a hat-trick from Stuart Krzyzanoski and goals from David Mellis, Kevin Bartlett, Kirk Taylor, Ali Maclennan and Lee Nicol in their 8-0 victory.

Strathglass knocked out Inverness' hopes at the Bught after the home side had led from the turn.

David Higham put Inverness in front in the eighth minute, Garry Reid equalised in 25 minutes but Fraser MacDonald put the city team in front right on the interval whistle.

Lee Bain pulled the scores back for Strathglass in the 70th minute and the winner came from Darren Reid with just ten minutes to go.

Also in the Balliemore, Kilmallie made hay at Beauly's expense, winning 7-1 thanks to four goals from Trevor Jackson, two from Fraser Mathie and one from John Stewart, whilst Barry MacDonald scored Beauly's consolation in the 89th minute.

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