Thumping wins for Boat of Garten Ospreys and FC Abernethy
It was another night of high scoring on Tuesday as the Strathspey & Badenoch Welfare league entered its second week of action.
Grantown Rovers 0-18 Boat of Garten Ospreys
With the Ospreys having tripped at the first hurdle last week, they were determined to claw back the points in defence of their title.
The game was only three minutes old when a free kick from Seoras Alliod was parried by the keeper, and Andrew Stewart tapped home the opener. And moments later it was 2-0 when a Martin Ross corner was nodded home by Harley Macfarlane.
Five minutes later Boat were awarded another corner, and James Blair’s whipped-in cross found Ross in space, and he cut inside to drive the ball high into the corner.
Some sloppy defending led to the Ospreys’ fourth goal as a loose back pass was collected by Blair who deftly lobbed the keeper from 25 yards.
On 27 minutes Alliod played the ball out to Callum Mackenzie, and his nifty footwork left defenders in his wake as he fed the ball through to Duncan Miller to finish at the back post.
On the half hour it was Macfarlane’s turn for a brace as he capitalised on some fine build up play to drill the ball home low.
Straight from the re-start Alliod stole the ball and skipped past four more defenders before smashing the ball into the net.
With half time approaching Blair did well to find Alliod, and some tidy footwork opened up space for a shot into the bottom corner to bag his brace.
The interval brought temporary relief for the beleaguered Rovers players.
A short free kick from Connor Macleod to Andrew Stewart saw the striker turn his marker and slot home goal number nine.
It was double figures on 53 minutes when Alliod turned provider to feed through Blair to bundle the ball home.
Moments later Blair’s corner was knocked on by Stefan Ritchie for Alliod to smash into the net for his hat-trick. Macfarlane got in with his own hat-trick when Blair’s pass split the Rovers’ defence and he was there to run through and finish well.
Some clumsy defensive play lead to an Ospreys’ penalty a short while later and Blair made no mistake from the spot.
Rovers’ defence had effectively given up by now and Matt Reynolds found himself running through on goal unmarked to get on the scoresheet.
Soon after, Macleod’s long ball into the middle was collected by Reynolds, and his quick turn beat the defence again for a quick-fire double with his effort from 20 yards out.
Straight from kick off Boat pounced again. Alliod slotted through for Macfarlane to collect, and the big striker lost his marker to fire across the keeper for his fourth of the night. There was just no let up from the Ospreys. Blair curled over yet another corner, and this time Connor Macleod was on hand to dink the ball home.
And right on the final whistle Macleod joined the doubles club when he collected a throw from Mackenzie and turned to fire low into the corner to complete the rout.
Aviemore Thistle 6-0 Cromdale
The sun was beaming down on the Aviemore pitch and it made for hot work for a game of football.
A patchwork Cromdale side struggled with the sun in the first 10 minutes of the game but no real chances were created.
Aviemore broke the deadlock on the quarter hour when great link up play from the two target men up top created space for Jake Jones who neatly picked out Wayne Cathcart to fire home from six yards.
Aviemore took the game by the scruff of the neck and were creating some great opportunities.
On 20 minutes Rory McKinnon’s good hold up play allowed Daf Simon to stroll into free space down the right. He took on one defender and delivered a teasing ball in which was met by a determined McKinnon to blast home for his first of the night.
Minutes later Cathcart and McKinnon linked up again and this resulted in a chipped ball to the back from McKinnon for Cathcart to walk onto and volley home for his second of the game.
The duo were proving too much for the Cromdale defence to handle and chance after chance came and went.
A long ball to Cathcart who cleverly chested it into the path of the in-rushing Jones but his thunderous left footed strike was tipped onto the bar by Dale keeper Matthew Betolli.
Aviemore made it four with 10 minutes of the half remaining after great determination from McConnell saw him win one of many midfield battles to lay the ball on a plate for McKinnon to strike low and hard past Betolli.
Cromdale started the better side in the second half creating some half chances but these long range efforts were met with some excellent saves by stand-in Aviemore keeper Colin Campbell.
It was Cathcart again who would make things happen for Aviemore.
With the clock on the hour mark, a corner in from Simons on the right hand side found the head of Cathcart to bullet home and all but seal the points for the home side.
Cromdale continued to fight for every ball and created some great chances. Two through balls in quick succession from their midfield found on- rushing attackers but these were met by brave tackles from keeper Campbell.
The scoring concluded 10 minutes from the end when a tired challenge from Dale’s Stuart Dunbar felled Dafydd Simon inside the area. Up stepped Sam Mcilroy whose perfect penalty crashed into the roof of the net.
FC Abernethy 10-1 Badenoch United
It has been a tough couple of weeks for league newbies Badenoch United and it go no easier on Tuesday evening.
Abernethy dominated the first half and Ben Buckler put them ahead when he latched on to a through ball from Jack Ward and slid the ball between the onrushing goalkeeper’s legs.
Buckler doubled the lead when he cleverly dispossessed a defender and fired the ball into the top corner.
His first half hat-trick was completed when he again latched on to a ball and caressed it around the keeper from 15 yards out.
In the second half Badenoch came out strongly but Abernethy weathered the storm and went further ahead through Alex Starace who finished well after a good move.
Starace nabbed his second with the goal of the game – exchanging two quick one-twos with his strike partner Ben Buckler before slotting home confidently.
United finally got themselves off the mark as they pulled a goal back. Scott MacDonald took a short free kick in his own half and found Dermot McKenna.
He played a switch ball down the left flank to Kepa Salazar-Roy who dinked it over the defender for Jason Minard to slot home with a well-timed volley.
Jack Ward came agonisingly close to scoring but was unfortunately foiled by a brilliant goal line clearance by Jack Ward.
Abernethy sub Tom Devereaux then made an incredible impact with two goals almost straight off the bench: one a well taken half volley at the far post and the other a classy volley on the turn from a Rob Stewart corner. Ben Buckler was not finished and scored yet again when he beat a defender for pace andjinked his way around the stranded Badenoch keeper.
The night’s biggest cheers came when Alex Starace completed his hat-trick with a great finish, reminding many of those present of a young Buckler.