Whalsay lose out to Celtic in Manson Cup while Spurs are held to a draw

Monday’s Manson Cup matches in group one saw Spurs and Whitedale share the points and Delting come back from two down to win at Scalloway. In group two Celtic saw off Whalsay in an entertaining game while Ness picked up full points against an out-of-sorts Thistle.

Manson Cup
(Group One)

Spurs 2, Whitedale 2

Spurs took to the field a couple of days after their Madrid Cup win with a lengthy injury list but welcomed back Sam Ward to the front line.

It was Ward who was causing most problems early on for Whitedale with his mazy runs and skill on the ball. The tangerines had a couple of shots from distance through young Lorne McNiven and Duncan Anderson but neither tested Craig Dinwoodie in the Spurs goal.

The breakthrough came when Josie Kay picked out Sean Maver in the box with a great cross and Maver tucked the ball away neatly.

The Lerwick outfit was playing some excellent football at times and Whitedale found it difficult to cope but Spurs could not capitalise on having most of the possession.

Whitedale found themselves on level terms soon after when Duncan Fraser found space on the edge of the box and his drilled effort was too much for Dinwoodie to keep out.

A matter of seconds later, Joe Leask pounced on a mistake and fired the ball into the back of the net to put Spurs ahead again.

After the break, Whitedale picked up their game and kept the pressure on the Spurs back line, with Gregor Manson and Dinwoodie in particular in fine form.

Whitedale were back on level terms when Jamie Wilson found space in the box to tuck the ball into the bottom corner.

It was Whitedale who looked the most likely to get the winner and came closest when Wilson again found space in the box. But this time, with an open goal in front of him, he blazed his effort over the bar, much to the delight of the watching Spurs fans.

Best for Spurs were Gregor Manson and Craig Dinwoodie while for Whitedale young Lorne McNiven shone out with his never-ending running.

Delting 7, Scalloway 2

Scalloway started the stronger and took the lead through a fierce shot by Scott Henderson.

Alan Davidson increased the village side’s lead when he chipped the ball over the advancing keeper.

Finding themselves two down seemed to bring Delting to life and Ross MacDougal calmly shot home after good work from Peter Peterson.

Then just before half time the game completely changed when Scalloway’s Kevin Sinclair was sent off for a professional foul. Leighton Flaws scored from the resulting penalty to make the score level at half time.

In the second half Delting controlled the game against 10 men and further goals from Stuart Lavender (2), Kevin Main, Robert Balfour and Ross Jamieson completed the scoring.

Manson Cup
(Group Two)

Celtic 3, Whalsay 2

Celtic left Seafield last Monday with all three points from a fast-flowing encounter with Whalsay.

The visitors raced into the lead in the fourth minute when Colin Leask unleashed a strike from 30 yards out that swerved viciously in mid-air and squeaked just inside Paul Grant’s left-hand post.

However, the home side were not to be outdone during the frantic start and went straight up the field and equalised. Connor Regan drove at the red back four, slipped the ball wide right to the advancing Roy Wood who in turn played in James Aitken. His cross to the back post was inviting. Regan had drifted in unattended and the midfield dynamo accepted the invitation and headed past stranded keeper Grant Thompson with ease.

Celtic took the lead five minutes later in almost carbon copy fashion. This time the left flank fashioned the cross. Again the ball broke from Celtic’s defence and Regan’s pace left the Whalsay central midfield for dead. He slipped the ball left to the galloping Ryan Grant whose left foot delivery was perfection and again Regan had found a good position at the back post to score with his second header of the evening.

Celtic held the upper hand in territorial stakes as they moved the ball quickly and maintained a quick tempo but Whalsay always looked dangerous breaking forward with Martyn Stevenson and Colin Anderson threatening the flanks.

Allister Johnson tried his luck from a dead ball in the 15th minute but his effort did not trouble Paul Grant in the Celtic goal.

Finn Watt at right back also augmented the Celtic forward play with Stevenson having to track back and deny Watt a strike at goal from the corner of the six-yard box with a fine blocking tackle.

The Whalsay players shouted for a penalty kick on the half-hour mark but referee Stephen Goodlad was having none of it as Bryan Irvine clearly ran into Paul Grant rather than a foul being committed.

As the first half played out Aitken was rushed into a snap-shot by the defensive attentions of Richard Arthur after Roy Wood, who caused Colin Leask and John Montgomery no end of trouble during the first 45 minutes, sent him free. Wood himself saw a good effort lift over the bar minutes later when Regan opened the red defence.

Ian Simpson shot past just as Goodlad blew for the interval.

Whalsay were quick out of the traps after the restart, Paul Grant having to be dominant in his penalty area, punching through a ruck of bodies from a Colin Anderson cross.

With 62 minutes on the clock Grant Thompson denied Regan his hat trick. Again the young Celt broke from the middle, drifted past a couple of tackles and unleashed a shot from 22 yards out that was destined for the top right corner until Thompson pulled off a fantastic single-handed save.

During this period of role reversal Celtic were looking dangerous on the break and with 70 minutes played they scored the decisive third. The ball was moved quickly from right to left and out to Ryan Grant wide and his driven cross was another peach. It was a defender’s nightmare and Lowrie Simpson was rewarded for another fine night’s work, running across the defence to slam home from eight yards.

Ian Simpson, a threat all evening, hit the woodwork when a rare moment of indecision in the Celtic defence let him in. That warning was not heeded and with 10 minutes left a ball played in from the left by Stevenson found Simpson. He was gifted the room to turn and he hooked the ball beyond Grant to give Whalsay a lifeline.

Whalsay pushed but Celtic were comfortable enough to see out the game.

Celtic did not have a failure throughout, played some lovely flowing football and were worthy winners. In Ryan Grant, Connor Regan, Roy Wood and Jordan Webb they had the game’s stand-out performers.

Whalsay also played well and Martyn Stevenson and Ian Simpson looked good going forward while Richard Arthur and Colin Anderson made life hard going for the Celtic attack.

Thistle 3, Ness United 5

No report was received from the home side but scorers for Ness were Kevin Smith (2), Scott Ferguson (2) and Neil Fenwick while Thistle replied through Neil Riddell, Stevie Michael and Thomas Clark.