MATCH REPORTS

Saturday 31^st January 2009

 

North Regional Cup 2^nd round

 

 

This game was anticipated to judge how far Inverness City have gone. City were the visitors to Superleague Maud in the 2^nd round of the North Regional Cup. Co-manager Pollard said “I couldn’t be any prouder of the boys performance. We went to Maud with the expectation that City would be defeated. The boys knew that their ability would be tested and this would give us a good judgment to see how far we have to go to compete at a higher level.” Pollard added “We must have done well as Jamie Fraser was named man-of-the-match, and we returned to Inverness knowing our lads are on the right track.”

 

The game started at a high pace and City started with a new formation, which was set up to frustrate the superleague side. With only 5 minutes gone, Maud gained a free kick on the edge of City’s box – this was an early warning sign when the ball crashed off City’s bar. A minute later, City were unlucky to concede their first goal when a deflection broke for one of the oncoming Maud forwards who slotted it past the oncoming Young. The game settled down and City started to find their feet. With chances few and far between, City had to wait to the 40^th minute when Gary Miller pulled the ball back for the oncoming Jamie Fraser to smash the ball in to the top corner to equalise for Inverness City. On the half time mark, Ian Young pulled off a spectacular save to keep City’s hopes alive in this cup match.

 

The second half started pretty much the same as the first with Maud unable to break City down but Maud again managed to find another chance which they graciously took to put them back in the lead 2-1. With the game being a hard fought cup tie, it was only a matter of time before the cards started being shown. Jordan MacDonald was sent off for bringing down one of the Maud forwards, and Keith Mason and the Maud forward were both sent off for a heated debate later on in the match. Due to the circumstances, City had to change formation and throw everything they had in to the last minutes of the game. With only 7 minutes to go, Jamie Fraser again smashed the ball in to the net, after a goal mouth scramble earning Inverness City the draw they deserved.

 

The game went straight in to penalties and with only Danny Murdoch and Nile McNiven scoring their penalties, City were defeated 3-2 to finish their North Regional Cup run.

 

Team: Young, MacDonald, Mapplebeck (Murdoch, 70), D Beaton, P Beaton, Maclennan, K Mason, J Fraser, K Fraser, Miller, Turner (McNiven, 70).

Subs not used: Pollard, S Graham