London Shield Final 26/10/13 – Newtonmore 1 Fort William 2
The final took place yesterday and the game provided everything possible for a final, with great shinty, goals, cards and some interesting refereeing. For the neutral a fantastic spectacle and for any of the supporters or teams officials it would have been a nervous 90 minutes as very little separated the teams.
Fort William’s captain Arran Macphee won the toss and they selected to play with the wind on a day that conditions were forecast to be worse. Fort William started quick with some fine moves and the better of the possession however it was Newtonmore who made the break through with a slip in the Fort William defence allowing Newtonmore to go one nil up on 15 minutes. The first half saw some great shinty with a mix of great skill and commitment to the tackle. Fort Williams centre line of Calum Shepard, Jake Macphee and Sean Leader (Full Centre) controlled the game and gave Fort William the upper hand.
The Newtonmore goal keeper had four or five outstanding saves to protect their lead, however Alexander Macmillian finished off for Fort William to make the score line one all midway through the first half. The pressure Fort William had deserved a goal.
After the break the game became extremely physical as both teams were desperate to get the all-important next goal. On the 88 minute Fort William were awarded a free hit and a textbook training ground move, as described by Manager Ian Smith, resulted in Fort taking the lead. The two wing forwards (Ewan Maqueen & Jay Macleod) as planned dragged the wing backs out allowing Alexander Macmillian to pick up the ball and slip it through to Lewis Morrison. Lewis used his quick footwork to catch the Newtonmore defender out and delivered a crushing blow to Newtonmore by slotting the ball home in the bottom corner.
Right after the goal in the next passage of play there was a fracas where the referee struggled to control and this ended up in three red cards and one Newtonmore player lucky to avoid any action. This unfortunately distracted from the high standard of game and controlled competitive nature of the game.
Congratulations to Fort William under 17’s, a great result which is well deserved after the effort show by all members of the team and coaching staff this year.