Grantown United claim the Capaldi Cup with narrow win over Cromdale
Grantown United secured their second cup success of the season when they came from behind to beat Cromdale 2-1 in the Capaldi Cup Final at Aviemore.
The Grantown side triumphed over Aviemore Thistle in the Caldwell Cup in June.
But Cromdale had not tasted any cup success since 2016 so they were keen to make up for lost time in Friday’s clash.
And it was Dale who netted first when United’s Kalen Clark poked a pass back to his keeper only to see it intercepted by Charlie Mackay.
He calmly evaded the onrushing stopper to slot Cromdale into the lead.
Things would stay that way into the second half but Cromdale’s hopes were dashed thanks to goals from Dafydd Simon and Danial Paluga.
Meanwhile Aviemore Thistle made it a perfect 10 after winning 3-2 awy at Abernethy after a pulsating encounter.
The Jags already had the title in the bag but Jags boss Finaly mcDonald had made it clear he was keen for his side to win all of their 10 leagues this season with just this one left to play.
FC Abernethy started the game full of confidence against the league champions after a recent good run of form.
Chances were created and Jules Orsi, in the goalscoring form of his life, was desperately unlucky when he reached a through ball just before the keeper but could not get enough on his shot.
The ball rolled agonizingly towards the goal but was cleared by a backtracking defender.
And it was the visitors who made the first breakthrough when Ross Peters swung a ball in from the left and it fell kindly for Wayne Cathcart to finish low into the net.
Ben Buckler had been a constant thorn in the side of the Aviemore defence and he got the deserved equaliser.
He danced across the Aviemore box beating three or four defenders before smashing home a great finish.
However, Abernethy had their number one, Calum Guy, to thank for keeping the scores level at the break.
He pulled off a series of top notch saves.
There was nothing to separate the two sides in the early stages of the second half until Davy Ross’ freekick from all of 30 yards out fmanaged to elude Guy who was caught too far off his line.
Abernethy responded immediately once again, however, when a ball into the box was flicked into a dangerous area by Andrew Lehane.
And who else but Ben Buckler, top scorer for the season, was there to take a touch and finish coolly past the helpless Colin Campbell in the Jags’ goal.
The match was a thriller and both teams had chances.
Martin Guckian was thwarted by a great low save from Campbell after Buckler had put a lovely ball across the box.
But with just five minutes of the season remaining Aviemore Thistle crowned another season to remember by making it the perfect 10.
Ross Peters found himself on the end of pass inside the box and held his nerve to finish low past Guy for 3-2 and 10 wins out of 10 in this season’s welfare league.
Grantown Utd 3-1 Cromdale
The two sides faced off against each other for the second time in four days, following United’s narrow win the Capaldi Cup final.
Dale were keen to give some payback but went down 3-1.
Liam Grant opened the hosts’ account on 20 minutes before the game morphed into a midfield battle.
United doubled their tally right on the stroke of half time though with Fraser Greenlees finding the net this time.
Into the second half and Kyle Scott made it 3-0 on the hour mark to give United a commanding lead.
However Cromdale pulled one back when a pinpoint through ball from Reece Allan found Ewan
Mackintosh in space.
He took one touch to evade his marker before unleashing a powerful drive.
Badenoch 14-0 Grantown Rovers
The two bottom sides met with pride still very much to play for.
And it was Badenoch who romped home against a patchwork Rovers team.
