Caithness Amateur Sevens Football League - Week 18

Submitted by Ian Nicol

30th January 2002

Week 18 and last week of the RMC sponsored football league and the headlines are

It's snow joke as Champions Ashes check out in style.

The games went ahead last night after teams agreed to finish the league despite the atrocious weather conditions as snow hit Naver last night. Top marks must go to Willie Cannop, manager of Thurso Thistle who single handed cleared the lines on the second pitch as the first match went underway.

Credit also to referees Bob Wheatcroft and Suiliman Makhouli for common sense refereeing given the conditions.

First up this evening was the Ashes Co-op game and the only thing on the agenda was to see if Ashes young striker Chris Dunnett could overhaul Castletown's Stuart MacKenzie on the top of the scoring chart by scoring 3. Dunnett had a chance early on but unselfishly fed Daniel MacKay for him to slot home. MacKay then turned provider for Dunnett to make it 2. Dunnett then powered home 2 more to make the "golden boot" his. In the second half Ashes kept the pressure on and goals by Paul Curwen, Terry MacKay and Daniel MacKay made it 7. Co-op as usual battled hard and were unlucky not to score.

Acks and Top Joes were next on in conditions more akin to skating than football. Acks came out tops in this encounter hitting 7 in the process. Carl Paterson and Stevie Reid both hitting a brace. Further goals came from Ian Grant, David McGreggor and Gary Moar. Top Joes did find the net through Donald Sinclair and Martin MacKay while Bruce Cormack missed a penalty

Workshops and Pentland played out the game of the night playing football that belied the conditions. Workshops took an early lead through Graham Carle who was on hand to net after the keeper had saved. He then made it 2 before Donald Allan pulled 1 back for Pentland. Jamie MacKay then made it 3-2 before Donald Allan again pulled 1 back. A Dougie Gunn solo effort made it 4 for Workshops before a Neil Murray OG got Pentland back into it. Graham MacDonald fired in a well deserved equaliser as the game finished level. A fair result on the night

Thistle and high flying Groats served up a chiller - thriller as conditions worsened. Terry Cannop fired Thistle into the lead which they held until half time. Willy Ross then cracked home an unstoppable volley to level things for Groats. Sean Henstridge then put the village team ahead before David MCGill equalised for Thistle. The game hinged on the next goal and it was Terry Cannop who sealed it for Thistle with a fine strike.

Last match was Castletown v Crazy Gang in crazy weather. Castletown raced into a 2-0 lead courtesy of goals from Sean Moodie and Davy Florence. Hugh Widgery then pulled one back for the Gang. Castletown continued to play attacking football and were rewarded with further goals from Gary Calder and a further goal from Florence to make it 4. Crazy Gang rallied and goals from Joe Christie and Andrew Taylor put the game back in the melting pot. There were further chances for both sides but Castletown finished worthy winners.

This weeks scores

Ashes 7 Co-op 0
Top Joes 2 Acks 7
Pentland 4 Workshops 4
JOG 2 Thistle 3
Crazy Gang 3 Castletown 4

The winner of the Peter MacGreggor sponsored trophy for the leagues highest scorer is Chris Dunnett of Ashes F.C. who finished 1 ahead of Stuart MacKenzie in second place

Chris Dunnett (Ashes) 26
Stuart MacKenzie (Castletown) 25
Sean Henstridge (JOG) 19
Andrew Taylor (Crazy Gang) 19
Terry Cannop (Thistle) 18
Dougie MacKay (Workshops) 16

Next up for the sevens is the Ormlie Motors sponsored cup on Saturday 9th February.

Various teams in the league have web sites and the committee after viewing them have decided to award a prize to Dave Terrace who's Pathetic Sharks website pays homage to Co-op F.C.

Dave wins a �10 voucher. His site can be viewed on http://www.dtdigital.co.uk

A key was found in one of the dressing rooms with an UKAEA key ring.
Anyone wishing to claim it can contact league secretary Ian Nicol on 895957.