NICOLSON SMO-KING HOT
The Senior Nicolson boys team marched through to the quarter finals of the N.of Scotland cup with a 5-2 victory away at Kingussie High school. Whilst the margin of victory looks convincing, the game proved very difficult on a wet and muddy pitch.
Kingussie started the brighter of the two teams as the Nicolson struggled to find their feet, often quite literally! In the opening minutes Cpt Caz Macphee looked like Bambi on ice and as a result Kingussie had a shot on goal which was gathered easily by Ally Macleod in goal. At this stage Kingussie looked dangerous and play was concentrated in the Nicolson half.
The Nicolson defense and midfield began to adapt to the conditions and in their first meaningful attack opened the scoring. A throw in from Jake Rivett resulted in a scramble in the box and the ball and the ball eventually broke to Sam Macsween. Sam made room for himself, pivoted on his right foot and curled a fantastic left foot shot into the top corner from around 18 yards. Within 5 minutes Kingussie drew level as slack play in defense by the Nicolson led to the left winger of Kingussie running clear. He squared it to his teammates who between them, managed to bundle the ball past a wrong footed Ally.
The Nicolson regrouped and showed fantastic ‘bouncebackability’ (one word) by regaining the lead straight away. Gordon Maclennan took a quick throw in to Jake Rivett who hit the byline and manufactured a great cross to the back post where Innes Ian Morrison was waiting to volley emphatically past the goalie. Half time score 1-2.
The team was asked to keep up the intensity and get the ball to the attackers who were causing the Kingussie defense all sorts of problems. The talk evidently worked as after 48mins a brilliant ‘Cruyff flick’ from Maclennan sent Cally Macleod racing through and he showed great composure to slot the ball beyond the keeper into the corner.
By this stage the Nicolson were well on top with James ‘Titch’ Morrison and Domhnall Bardon taking control of the midfield. It wasn’t long before the Nicolson scored again when Gordon took advantage of hesitant defending to pinch the ball, race through and calmly knock the ball under the keeper. After 65mins the Nicolson took the opportunity to bring on some fresh legs, Iain Welsh replaced Innes Macdonald, who’d put in a very strong performance at left back and Andrew Macmillan replaced Sam MacSween who was suffering from cramp after running his heart out.
With 15 mins left Kingussie reduced the deficit when, following some good interplay, their centre forward raced through and placed a shot past Ali into the corner. This could have passed panic in the Nicolson defense as in the Scottish cup they had lost a 3 goal lead to Inverurie. However, with Caz MacPhee and in particular Chris Dempster who was later voted man of the match, in great form, the defense held firm and it was the Nicolson who were to have the last laugh. Andrew Macmillan shwoed great wing play to force a corner and from the resulting corner, Cally curled the ball right under the cross bar where the keeper couldn’t keep it out. A goal direct from a corner! Mr Rowlands decided that that was quite cheeky so took him off straight away and jet heeled Connor Mackay replaced him for a lively final 12 mins. There was still some time for Titch to hit the cross bar before the referee, who hails from Uist , signalled the end of the game. The quarter final will be a home tie against Dingwall, Culloden or Inverness High School. Well done boys!
