Halkirk FC - Reports, Results & Photos - Season 2008-2009

Highland Amateur Cup - Round 3 - 21/06/08
Halkirk 1 - 5 Carloway, Lewis

Muttley

The Wildcat's had to travel to Culbokie for this 'home' tie with the match being played on a neutral venue due to the travelling distance involved for our opponents. The venue at Culbokie was excellent though, an excellent playing surface with perfect weather conditions meant there was no excuse not to play good football.

We actually started the game really well and had Carloway on the back foot for much of the opening 20 minutes.

We had a great chance to take the lead from the penalty spot inside the first five minutes after Kitten was fouled in the box. Unfortunately, the keeper dived to his right to save Muttley's effort. Our heads did go down a little after that but we continued to press as much as possible.

Bainer in particular was enjoying himself as he was roasting their left back the whole first half and he was unlucky with a couple of efforts from the edge of the box. He also crossed to set up Muttley for a diving header but it didn't have enough power to really trouble the keeper.

It was very much against the run of play when Carloway scored. They were awarded a penalty when the ball struck the hand of Old Martin Bain just inside the box and despite Poop diving the right way the ball was too far into the corner for him to stop it.

They made it two shortly afterwards with a well placed shot into the bottom corner from about 20 yards. We continued to compete well in the first half, with Adamson being denied by the keeper and Luke & Muttley both missing good chances just before the break.

Half Time 0 - 2

The next goal was crucial and it was the Islanders who got it, to effectively kill the game.

We then became a little ragged for the remainder of the game and they were able to hit us on the break quite regularly as we left the defence more and more exposed as we tried to get back into it.

They increased their lead to five nil with about fifteen minutes left before they were awarded another penalty. Poop was the man penalised when the ref adjudged him to have brought down their striker. He made amends though as he got down low to his left to make a good save.

We finally got the goal that our first half play had deserved when Stevie C broke from the halfway line, evading a couple of challenges before unleashing a 25 yard rocket into the top corner.

The end of our interest in this year's Highland Cup but it was a performance to be proud of, especially in the first half.

We should've been at least two goals up by the time Carloway got their first and we'll never know what might've happened if we had been able to take the lead.

Fair play to our opponents though, once they did take the lead they proved themselves to be a very capable outfit and should fancy their chances of going a long way in the tournament.

For us, it's back to the County scene starting with the Acks in the David Allan Shield on Tuesday.

Go Wildcat's!!!

report provided by Liam Bremner

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