Superb opening day of the season win for Newtonmore
Newtonmore manager Peter Ross praised his team for their ‘dominant’ performance as they opened their Mowi Premiership campaign with a 2-0 win over Caberfeidh at Castle Leod.
Cabers finished second in the league last season and Ross said: “We dominated the first half and could have been further ahead at half-time.
“Cabers were strong at the start of the second half, but you can never get it all your own way for the whole game.”
‘More took the lead midway through the first half when Iain Robinson finished well with a great touch and backhand strike following a Conor Jones free-hit.
Robinson then turned provider as won possession to the left of the D and played the ball back to Joe Coyle who scored with a first-time shot.
Caberfeidh’s Liam Symonds, who was booked early on for a challenge on Iain Robinson, received a second yellow card for chopping down the same player deep into stoppage time.
Ross observed: “It was physical at times, and I had to take Joe Coyle off for a spell to protect him. We kept our discipline and deserved the win for our overall play.
“When Caberfeidh wanted to play shinty, we beat them at that and when they wanted to get physical, we beat them at that too.
“We played the last half-hour without Rory Kennedy, forced off following an accidental head cut, and we then lost Craig Ritchie too. Kenny Ross made a fantastic save from Craig Morrison in the second half, but their keeper Iain MacCall was probably man of the match.
“This was a really difficult opening fixture, so it’s already a massive result for us.”
The Newtonmore second team came from behind to beat Glengarry 2-1 in their Mowi North Division 1 match at The Eilan. Nick Dalgetty put ‘Garry ahead but Glen MacKintosh and Jacob Bain gave ‘More victory.
This coming weekend, Newtonmore are in league action against Fort William at the Eilan.
Ross noted a word of caution: “They will be confident after beating Kyles and they put us out of the MacTavish last year.”
The Newtonmore seconds play the Fort William seconds in the league at An Aird.