Dylan Borthwick provng himself to be key for the Kings this season
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Manager Iain Borthwick hailed it as ‘probably our best performance of season so far’ as his side reached the cottages.com MacTavish Cup semi-finals with a 4-0 win over Caberfeidh.
Caberfeidh’s Connor MacGregor was sidelined for the 3pm throw up at Castle Leod after breaking his fibula against Kinlochshiel the previous weekend.
However, Ben MacDonald was able to play just ahead of a return to work offshore whilst Connor Golabek was back in the side after missing the previous week’s win over Kinlochshiel.
Kingussie pair Ruaridh Anderson and Dylan Borthwick both recovered from knocks to start whilst James Falconer and Thomas Borthwick both returned following injury to take places on the bench.
Dylan Borthwick has already proved himself to be key for the Kings this season and he put the visitors in a comfortable position with a quick-fire double on 21 and 24 minutes.
His first came when Ruaridh Anderson escaped the attentions of two home defenders on the Kingussie left.
Anderson found Borthwick with his back to goal to the left of the penalty spot and he made space before turning and shooting high into the net to keeper Iain MacCall’s left.
Borthwick made it 2-0 soon after and Ruaridh Anderson was again the supplier as his lofted free-hit from the right played in Borthwick to the left of the D and, on his left side, he floated the ball into the roof of the net.
Savio Genini ensured there would be no Caberfeidh comeback when he added a third with just a couple of first half minutes remaining.
Lee Bain touched the ball inside following a hit-in on the right and Genini finished with unerring accuracy with his turn and shot into the corner of the net beating the keeper on his left side.
Dylan Borthwick took his tally to eight goals for the season when he clinched his first hat-trick of the new campaign with just 12 minutes remaining.
Ruaridh Anderson dropped into the Caberfeidh half to send the ball long to Savio Genini on the right.
He found substitute James Falconer to the right of the D, and he flicked a reverse ball inside to Dylan Borthwick who showed great confidence as he took a touch before smashing the ball over the keeper to make it 4-0, sending Kingussie sailing into Tuesday’s semi-final draw.
Looking back on the game, Kingussie manager Iain Borthwick said: “The boys were superb, and I couldn’t fault anyone.
“Dylan and Sav produced the goods and they both took their goals so well but I’m full of praise for all the players.
“Craig Morrison is a real threat for Cabers, but Robert Mabon was outstanding against him.
“It was good to see James Falconer back on the park and Thomas Borthwick was ready to play, but we left him on the bench to give him another week’s recovery time.
“It’s probably our best performance of the season so far and it had to be against what is a good Caberfeidh team.”
Caberfeidh manager Garry Reid said: “That was disappointing after the effort we put in a week ago to get to this round.
“It feels that we have gone out meekly but all credit to Kingussie who took their chances and buried the game in the first game.”
This coming Saturday, Kingussie play Oban Camanachd at the Dell with the sides sharing all senior trophies between them last season.
Borthwick remarked: “We’re getting players back after injury and everyone is now fighting for their place. It’s going to be hard to drop anyone but that’s a good headache to have.”
