In tonight’s Highland Welfare Cup game Tomatin came out on top against 1^st Division side Pheonix.  With the game being played in sweltering heat Tomatin found themselves on the back foot. For the first 10 minutes the Phoenix had Tomatin pinned in their own half, with Phoenix’s best chance being cleared off the line by Sean MacKay.

After the Tomatin midfield began to see more of the ball and this allowed them to play their way back into the game.  This meant both teams were looking to open the scoring by launching attack after attack. But neither team managed to break the deadlock before the half time whistle.

The second half started the same as the first half with Phoenix looking the more likely to score. But Tomatin increased the tempo and took the lead when Martin Kennedy latched onto a weak back pass. He calmly slotted the ball away to give Tomatin the lead.

The goal seemed to spur Tomatin forward; this pressure paid off when they were awarded a penalty. The Phoenix keeper was judged to have pulled Martin Kennedy back in the box and the referee pointed to the spot. Matty Francis stepped up but his weak penalty was easily saved by the Phoenix keeper, but the ball was spilled back to the midfielder who stuck the ball away from a yard.

Tomatin looked to have wrapped the game up when Martin Kennedy beat the offside trap to round the keeper and put the ball into an empty net. This was his second goal of the game which was nothing more than the striker deserved.

Phoenix immediately pulled one back when their player was given space in the box from a cross field ball and he put the ball in the net. The game was to finish with Phoenix looking for a way back into the tie but Tomatin held firm to record a hard fought victory.