Premier champs scrape home twice
REIGNING champions had a charmed life in senior football last week, defeating Scalloway 4-3 in the Premier League and gaining a 1-0 victory to knock Spurs out of the Fraser Cup. Elsewhere Unst comfortably beat North Isles neighbours Yell, while two early goals proved crucial as Scalloway ended Thistle’s Fraser Cup aspirations.
G&S Flooring Premier League
Scalloway 3, Delting 4
With both teams fielding changed line-ups it was Delting who dominated the early exchanges.
The opening goal arrived after 10 minutes when a long throw fell into the path of Fraser Hall who fired the ball into the corner of the net.
As the half progressed the home team started to impose themselves on the game with Steven Umphray and Robert Garrick battling hard in midfield while Marcus Pitt held together the young Scalloway defence.
With half time approaching Delting almost grabbed a second when Peter Peterson’s effort was well saved by village keeper Bryan Johnson.
Early in the second half Brian Duncan rose unchallenged to head a corner kick goalwards only for Pitt to clear the ball off the line.
Minutes later Gary Burns latched on to a short pass back before coolly lifting the ball over the advancing Delting keeper. The goal seemed to give Scalloway belief and they soon found themselves in front when Burns’ driven cross was fired into the net by Alan Davidson.
There were strong appeals for a penalty when Davidson’s shot from distance was deflected wide via the arm of a Delting defender. The appeals, however, were in vain and Delting took full advantage of the break when Hall equalised with a header minutes later.
With the match finely balanced another Delting corner was powerfully headed home by Brian Duncan. The game was then put out of Scalloway’s reach when Hall was sent through on goal and he calmly placed the ball into the net to complete his hat-trick.
In the final minute Scalloway were awarded a penalty kick after another hand ball in the Delting penalty area with Garrick scoring from the spot despite a valiant effort from keeper Craig Dinwoodie.
On the night Scalloway will feel slightly unlucky not to have taken something from the match with Pitt and Burns the stand outs in a good team performance. Delting, on the other hand, showed character to grind out the result with Hall in particular having a fine game.
Yell 1, Unst 8
With Yell struggling for confidence they were dealt a blow minutes into the match when a poor clearance in the defence fell to Darren Thompson eight yards out and he finished easily into the far corner.
The second wasn’t long in coming when Bruce Johnson broke through the defence to finish past Yell keeper Matthew Saunders.
Neil Smith strolled past the defence again to hammer a shot in off the post from a wide angle for number three. It could have been worse had Saunders not pulled off a few good saves.
Yell finally got a grip on the game 20 minutes in and were winning every ball. Chances started to appear and after a succession of corners they got a fortunate goal which bounced around the box and went in off Darren Thompson.
Yell also had a fine finish from Jack Jamieson ruled out for a push on an Unst defender, leaving the score 3-1 at half time.
The second half started with Yell playing very poorly. They couldn’t string passes together, were second to every ball and Unst made handfuls of chances from which Saunders pulled off many fine saves.
Further Unst goals came from Smith, Johnson, Matthew Mouat, Gary Harrison and Erik Thompson.
Best on the night for a poor Yell was Matthew Saunders with the travelling Unst support wondering how he is not involved in the senior county set-up. For Unst, Erik Thomson, Neil Smith and Darren Thompson all did well.
Fraser Cup
(semi-final)
Thistle 0, Scalloway 2
Scalloway were quickly into their stride at Seafield and Alan Davidson took advantage of some slack marking from a free kick to guide the ball home inside two minutes.
Thistle also began reasonably brightly but shot themselves in the foot again when a short back-header from Paul Nicol let the lively Davidson in again, only for him to be brought down by a combination of a defender and goalkeeper Steven Henry.
Linesman Michael Grant flagged for the spot-kick and only uncertainty over who was the guilty party saved the Jags from being reduced to 10 men. Nonetheless Robert Garrick coolly sent Henry the wrong way to double the visitors’ lead.
For the remainder of the first half Thistle had the better of things and should have brought themselves back into the game. Scott Morrison was released on the left and cut in on to his right foot
to bring out a good save
from Bryan Johnson, who also tipped over an effort from Neil Riddell.
From one of a series of
corners, Kevin Teale thumped a header against the crossbar while
a long-range effort from
Richard Manson went narrowly wide.
After the interval Scalloway could have sealed the game
when John Robert Umphray met a corner with a powerful header which ended a foot wide of the upright.
Thistle continued with their attempts to get back into the game but it was clear their luck was out when débutante Sean Sinclair was sent through and denied by a great last-ditch tackle, the ball ricocheting to Scott Evans who struck against the post before Sinclair’s header from close range was clawed away by Johnson.
A couple of winding runs from Morrison ended first with him blazing over and then testing Johnson, who was again in fine form, but in the end the frustrated home side’s efforts petered out as Scalloway comfortably saw out the final minutes to progress to the Fraser Cup final.
Standouts for the visitors were the front pairing of Davidson and Gary Burns, along with goalkeeper Johnson.
Fraser Cup
(quarter-final)
Spurs 0, Delting 1
Delting booked their place in the semi-finals after overcoming Spurs at Gilbertson Park on Monday, Ross Jamieson getting the crucial goal.
Reserve League
Thistle 5, Scalloway 2
The first half was mostly controlled by Thistle who deservedly led at the interval thanks to two goals from Sean Sinclair.
In the second half Scalloway started well and immediately reduced the deficit through David Sjoberg.
The match once again swung in Thistle’s favour when Scalloway keeper Gary Irvine was sent off for a mistimed challenge and Colin Bragg scored from the free kick.
Scalloway scored again through Danny Moncrieff but a fine Neil Riddell strike and an own goal from Brydon Goodlad gave Thistle a deserved win.
Ness United 6, Whalsay 1
Scorers for Ness were Alwyn Flaws (3) Grant Redfern, Steven Smith and Craig Leslie. Whalsay replied through Magnus Polson.
Whitedale 4, Celtic 0
The deadlock was broken on 15 minutes when Ryan Jozwik slotted home the opener.
Both sides continued to create chances, with Celtic perhaps unlucky not to find the equaliser, but it was the home side who doubled their lead hen an expert pass from Paul Molloy found Jozwik who made no mistake.
In the second half substitute Jamie Wilson and Ryan Stewart made it four.
Spurs 1, Delting 4
Connel Gresham got Spurs goal while Ally Williamson (2), Robert Balfour and Brydon Mowat were Delting’s scorers.
