The Red and Blues prevailed 2-1 against Bute, but the playing surface left a lot to be desired.

Two goal hero, Ronald Ross, was moved back to defend as the game entered the closing stages by boss Jimmy Gow to preserve their slender lead after the home side had scored in the 75th minute.

Ross said: "The pitch was absolutely horrendous and we were lucky not to end the first half level as Bute's big and strong players created several chances but couldn't finish.

"The win was a relief at the end, and the two points are vital, but it's a long trip to make for a game that nobody enjoyed on a surface that was never really playable."

Kingussie had set out on the journey south in the hope that a dry week might make the Bute field a reasonable playing surface.

The game did go ahead, but the pitch, while not actually holding standing water, was far from good.

Under normal circumstances the surface would surely have been declared unplayable. The entire ground was very soft and the game had to be held up on countless occasions for a throw up as the ball was rescued from somewhere in the mud.

With ball playing skills substantially nullified, Kingussie did well to take an early 2-0 lead through a brace from Ross.

But as the half wore on, Bute also created chances and Andrew Borthwick made a couple of good saves in the Kingussie goal to keep the islanders at bay.

In the second half, the luck of the playing surface lottery continued to be the determining factor.

Stewart Strathy pulled one back for Bute to set up a tense finale for the visitors, who could not afford to drop a point.

Reacting to the setback, Gow took the view that the most important thing was to hang on to all the points.

Ross shored up the defence – a tactic which in the end worked out well as the final whistle came with no further scoring.

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