Kingussie remain top despite 1-1 draw with Oban Camanachd
Kingussie remain a point clear at the top of the Mowi Premiership following their 1-1 draw with Oban Camanachd at Mossfield on Saturday.
Kings manager Iain Borthwick was without Liam Borthwick, Fraser Munro and Rory MacKeachan, all with hamstring injuries, whilst Cammie Bremner was on holiday and gamekeepers Lee Bain and Savio Genini were involved in a charity shoot.
George Taylor Ramsay continues to recover from a fractured metatarsal and Ruaridh Anderson was again an unused substitute.
Svend Pedersen was given a starting debut with Fionn Dempster and Robert Shiells debuting from the bench for the last 10 minutes.
Kingussie had keeper Rory “Bob” McGregor to thank for a sparkling first half performance as Oban Camanachd created the better chances.
However, the Kings came more into it after the restart, going in front on 61 minutes.
A hit-in came to Roddy Young who out-muscled a couple of defenders before turning and beating Cammy Sutherland in the home goal.
Oban Camanachd fought back and with only six minutes remaining, Daniel MacVicar turned a rebound home to make it 1-1.
Boss Borthwick said afterwards: “Overall, I’m really happy with our performance and the point, especially given the players we were missing.
“We maybe could have snatched a win, but a draw was probably a fair result.
“I was pleased to get in goalless at half-time as Oban caused us a lot of problems in the first half, forcing Bob to make a number of good saves.
“We had our own chances but not as many as I would have liked
“We had a better grip of the game in the second half with more control and possession of the ball, but Oban continued to look dangerous on the break, again forcing Bob to be on his toes.”
Oban Camanachd assistant manager Iain MacMillan commented: “Kingussie keeper Rory McGregor kept them in it with some brilliant saves, and I thought young Kingussie wing backs Sam Thain and Macleod Dawson were excellent whilst the full centres, our Garry Lord and their Thomas Borthwick, had a terrific battle.”
Kingussie move onto 14 points with Oban Camanachd one point behind both having played nine games.
Both Newtonmore’s 2-0 win over Lovat sees them move into the title fight with the Blue and Whites now on 11 points but having played one game fewer - as have Fort William who are in third place on 12 points from eight matches.
This Saturday, Kingussie open their Tulloch Homes Camanachd Cup defence with a trip to play Skye Camanachd. Throw up is at 3pm.
Earlier in the day, the Kingussie seconds meet their Skye counterparts in a Mowi North Division 1 encounter, also in Portree. Throw up at noon.
Skye will also use the occasion to officially open The Donnie Martin Stand in-between times with a ceremony at 2pm.
The ceremony and the Camanachd Cup tie will both be broadcast live on Radio Skye which can be accessed online or via Tune-in on smart devices.