It’s the late late show as Kings snatch point against Lovat
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KINGS boss John Gibson was delighted to be on the other end of a late comeback after the Red and Blues grabbed a point away to early pacesetters Lovat last week.
The previous weekend the Dell side was left to rue a host of misses as Lochaber’s Ben Delaney bundled the ball home in the 89th minute to secure a 1-1 draw.
The Kings left it even later on Saturday with Savio Genini scoring an injury time equaliser in a hard-fought 2-2 game.
Lovat’s Marc MacLachland had put the hosts back in front in the 65th minute.
The teams had scored
either side of the interval with Greg Matheson giving Lovat the lead in the 44th minute only for Genini to level things up for the first time in the 49th minute.
Gibson told the Strathy: “It was nice to be on the other end of a late goal after the previous weekend.
“We finished the game really strongly and certainly deserved the leveller and we could have gone on to nick it.
“Savio has another good chance to score right at the very end but he slipped at the crucial time under pressure.
“He was unlucky not to complete his hat-trick.”
In the end, Gibson thought that a draw was a fair reflection of proceedings.
“Lovat were undoubtedly the better team in the first half but we were well on top for the last 20 minutes of the game and edged the second half.”
The Kings lost Lee Bain to injury later in the first half with James Falconer returning at right wing-forward and Roddy Young going to full forward.
Gibson was impressed by Falconer’s reintroduction: “He looked really sharp and did well.”
He will expect to continue with Bain set to miss this Saturday’s big derby game at the Eilan against Newtonmore. Gibson said: “Unfortunately, Lee’s hamstring has gone again and he’ll not be available this weekend but other than that we will have the same squad to select from.”
The Kings manager will be hoping to catch Newtonmore cold as they did last season early on winning 1-0 at the Eilan early on in the season.
“Both teams will be a little bit rusty but grabbing a late point puts us in a good frame of mind going into the game – certainly better than coming off the end of last weekend.
“The attitude was really good and to come back twice shows this side’s strength of character. It will hold us in good stead for Saturday and we will need to equally robust against Newtonmore.”
Lovat had by far the greater part of the first half and would have been in front apart from the efforts of Craig Dawson in goal.
The Kings still had their first half moments though with good efforts from Rory McGregor and Roddy Young.
The Kiltarlity outfit broke the deadlock just before the interval however when Marc MacLachlan found Greg Matheson with enough room to fire home.
Lovat attacked from the restart, but it was the Kings who struck next, on 49 minutes when Savio Genini fired in a shot from 25 yards before Lovat regained the lead through a MacLachlan strike.
Ruaraidh Anderson then went close for the Kings before Fraser Heath had a shot well saved by Dawson.
The last 20 minutes were all Kingussie and it was just reward when Genini levelled with a flick past Stuart MacDonald in the home goal.
All other Premiership fixtures fell victim to the weather including Newtonmore’s home game with Oban Camanachd.
