Loch Ness 3
Fort William 0
North Caledonian League
Fort William Football Club were comprehensively out gunned as Loch Ness triumphed 3-0 in Fortrose, writes Peter Newman.
The reigning champions are still smarting from a points deduction for fielding an ineligible player which sees them hovering in third place in the North Caledonian league table.
Sadly, Alan Gray’s Fort team were to bear the consequences.
The Claggan Park men fielded a strong line up, including a last minute reshuffle which saw Andy Zoomer Martin replaced by Stevie Campbell at centre half due to travel issues.
Despite the result, Fort William competed strongly for much of the game. Veterans Marty Munro and Dave Forbes were industrious and imaginative, but the experience and nous of the opposition meant a hard afternoon for them both.
Loch Ness scored all three of their finishes in a 17 minute blast either side of half time.
Jamie Fraser and Alan MacPhee scored within four minutes of each other to make it 2-0 on 29 and 33 minutes respectively.
Straight after half time, Sam Urquhart scored his second of the season to move the hosts to 3-0 – game over.
Alan Gray said: “No complaints, the better team won on the day. In patches, we showed the quality we possess as a squad and we tested Loch Ness for stretches. However, we also failed to do the basics at key times and got punished for that.
“This is not the first time this has happened to us this season and we need a number of the boys to become a lot more streetwise, a lot more quickly.
“Our old war horses, Marty and Dave, were great, as were the young Damian Puglica, Ross Peters, Ben Mackinnon and Davie Neil who all came off the bench and looked sharp, but against a team of Loch Ness’ quality it’s too late by then.
“We are ready and excited to bounce back against Inverness Athletic this week.”
Fort William FC welcome Inverness to Claggan Park this Saturday, October 21, kick-off 2pm.