Halkirk United FC - Reports, Results & Photos - Season 2009-2010

Port Services Group League - 05/09/09
Halkirk United 2 - 0 Golspie

United avenged their previous week's defeat in Dingwall on Saturday by extending their impressive home record against the defending PSG North Caley League champions.

Golspie have seen quite a few of departures and arrivals and it may take some time to assess just how the changes have affected them.

They suffered from a serious lack of firepower on Saturday with home keeper Graeme Williamson being called on to deal with a goalbound effort just once.

Setpieces apart, they seldom troubled United's rearguard, where Castletown youngster Ben Murray looks set to become a fixture.

The home attack also showed the greater ingenuity and incisiveness and perhaps deserved more than the two goals they scored.

Williamson's opposite number Steven Campbell was regularly in the thick of the action.

The former Invergordon keeper passed his first serious test on 15 minutes when he got to Gavin Henderson's firm header from Luke Sawyer's corner.

Earlier, Henderson's assist encouraged Sawyer to try his luck from 30 yards with his raking shot a foot or two wide of the target.

Stuart Florence was proving a busy presence on the left flank and on 21 minutes, he engineered space for himself before delivering a shot which Campbell did well to turn behind.

From the ensuing corner, Henderson again outmanoeuvred his marker but put just too much on his header.

Lee Elder was off-target with a half-chance before a break initiated by Ben Murray ended with debutant Alan Larnach playing in Florence who was again defied by Campbell's leap to touch his shot over the bar.

Golspie impressed up to until the final quarter of the park where they seemed to run out of ideas.

They had to wait until 31 minutes for their first serious attempt - a dipping 20 yarder from Shane Sutherland that Williamson was happy to see clear his crossbar.

Campbell's first gremlin two minutes later almost proved very costly when he fumbled a Larnach free-kick. The keeper recovered well to regather as several United players closed in.

Budge went close and Sawyer passed up a decent opportunity when he shot straight at Campbell in the run-up to half-time.

Ex-pro Alex Bone failed to impress though Henderson did well to block the striker's netbound shot in the first serious action after the turnaround.

Bone then shot wildly over when Shane Sutherland's cross found him unmarked six yards out.

John Smith then headed a free-kick from Iain Innes just over as Golspie enjoyed a decent spell.

As so often happens, they promptly fell behind.

Sawyer's 56th minute deep corner was headed back cross goal by Budge for Elder to guide past Campbell.

Six minutes later, the visitors found themselves two down as a result of a solo effort from Florence.

In a near carbon copy of his previous week's goal versus Dingwall, he gained possession just into the opposition half before slaloming past several opponents and firing a low shot just inside into Campbell's right-hand post.

Williamson's only save came 10 minutes from the end when he raced out and used his feet to block sub Sean Robertson's attempt after he was put in the clear.

Shane Sutherland went close on late on as United saw out the game to retain their long, unbeaten home record. They last tasted defeat at Recreation Park versus Inverness City in October 2007.

Manager Ian MacDonald did not feel the sequence was ever put at serious risk on Saturday.

The only troubling thing was the number of corners we gave away in the first half. They really relied on the setpiece to get a goal whereas I thought we looked far more dangerous in open play. It was nice to get the two goals but there were quite a few other chances which we should have buried.

Halkirk - Williamson, Sinclair, Murray, Florence, Davidson, MacDonald, Henderson, Larnach (Mackay 78), Sawyer (Bremner 78), Budge, Elder (MacNab 63).

Golspie - S. Campbell, G. MacLeod, Kennedy, Thomson, J. Smith, J. Macleod, A. Sutherland, Innes, Bone, Mikula, S. Sutherland. Subs - A. Smith, J. Campbell, Roberson and Whyte.

Ref - Mr B. Gunn, Thurso.

report provided by Iain Grant

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