Clach 1-1 Keith
This one was a bit like the weather conditions today. Started bright, with high pressure dominating, but finishing decidedly damp and unpredictable. Our visitors, Keith, haven\'t exactly hit the ground running so far this season, so it was set up for an intriguing contest.
A good crowd, including a stag party, and more than a handful of football tourists, provided an always welcome extra splash of colour and the hopes were, that we could pick up where we left against Dundee United B, in midweek. And the early signs were good. The passing and movement which completely bamboozled our visitors on Wednesday was once again on show, and it was not long before we had our first chance of the afternoon, when a Mikey Mackenzie shot was comfortably saved by Reid in the Keith goal.
On loan debutant Shae Keogh, looked solid throughout, and he tried his luck shortly after, to no avail. Troy Cooper also got in on the act by testing Reid once more, but it was MOTM Mikey Mackenzie that broke the deadlock, finishing off a good bit of build up play involving Shae once again. It wasn\'t for the first time that our play was attractive, and a joy to watch, and had it not been for the woodwork, we could have gone into the interval with a 3 goal lead as both Cooper and Kuba Leszczynski hit the frame. It would have been hard to argue. Unless you happened to be Keith manager Craig Ewen, who got a red card for dissent. And so it remained 1-0.
Keith obviously knew what they needed to do in the next 45 minutes, and they successfully stifled our play, while starting to impose themselves on the game.
Mark Ridgers, who had mostly been a spectator so far, was called into action, and only he knows if he could have done better, when Heath Duncan shot from range over our Number One. If he didn\'t cover himself with glory then, he went on to redeem himself, time and again in the final stages of this game, as they built on their momentum. In the end we might have counted ourselves lucky not to have gotten beat. It really had been a game of two halves. The Gaffer looked to inject some fresh energy into our performance by doing one of his "three off, three on" manoeuvres, but sadly it was not to be. When the ball came to Harry in the latter stages, I envisaged a sweetly struck shot nestling in the top corner. Unfortunately, it was the top corner of the flats on Wyvis Place. That said, it was still better than the efforts of one of the stag party to return a ball to the field of play. His kick rebounded off a floodlight pole before running along the roof of the Hospitality Tent. Mate, you had one job to do.
Over the next week, we have our own jobs to do. To prepare for two tough challenges against Forres at Mosset Park on Wednesday, and back here for the El Classico of the Moray Firth, when we welcome Nairn County to Grant Street Park. As per usual, the guys really appreciate the support of the Lily Loyals. Let us cheer them on together.