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    Halkirk United FC - Reports, Results & Photos - Season 2008-2009
League - 06/09/08
United won at a canter on Saturday in their first clash with the MSIS North Caley League newcomers. Three up after 10 minutes, Ian MacDonald's men coasted to a runaway victory, which came at the price of losing key midfielder Alan Farquhar with a nasty knee knock. Farquhar joins a mounting casualty list which gives a somewhat threadbare look to the squad being assembled for tomorrow's home counter versus a resurgent Bunillidh Thistle. Thistle have a young, inexperienced side which may take time to acclimatise to the league. They do not however lack a physical presence with MacDonald unhappy at the treatment doled out to some of his players. From the kick-off, it was evident that the home side would be hard-put to contain a Halkirk side buoyed by a strong start to the season, which included a goal-less draw in a midweek bounce game versus Wick Academy. Striker Mark Nichol got off the mark for his new club with a brace though he could comfortably have had a double hat-trick given the glut of chance that came his way. He had already gone close before he opened the scoring with a bread-and-butter finish after Chris Sutherland and Kyle Ross had done the spadework. A minute later, it was 2-0 after a move created by Colin Sinclair's surge forward and Luke Sawyer's astute cross. Stuart Florence's spectacular 20 yard volley left home keeper Barry Nimmons grasping thin air. Nichol shot past from prime position before Tain fell further behind on nine minutes. Alan Sinclair's searching pass to Alan Farquhar was in turn laid off to Sutherland who fired home from 10 yards.
There was no let-up in the one-way traffic with the Tain defence again badly exposed on 11 minutes with a clever combination between Florence and Sutherland. The latter's cross teed up Kevin Miller two yards out. With the goal at his mercy, the big defender's woeful miscue ensured he was the butt of merciless ribbing from his team-mates afterwards. Halkirk went off the boil for the rest of the half with the game punctuated by a steady stream of fouls and injury breaks. Farquhar's damaged knee required his replacement by Colin Davidson on the half-hour mark. A minute later, Nichol's near-post head-flick from Sutherland's corner inched wide of its target. Nichol had the first chance of the second period when he headed just wide from Sawyer's set-up. United went four up on 50 minutes when Ross latched on to a half-clearance from another corner to net with a peach of a 25 yard strike. Two minutes later, they added to their tally when Nichol played in Sutherland to finish with a neat chip over Nimmons. Colin Sinclair went close with a long-rang screamer after 66 minutes.
It was the 80th minute when visiting keeper Stuart MacCulloch was finally called into active service - a full-stretch lunge to reach a decent effort from Daniel Christie. Tain's outfield players ran out of steam in the closing 10 minutes when Nimmons was time and again left badly exposed. He could do nothing on 84 minutes when Nichol raced clear and rounded the keeper to net number six. But the keeper came out top in two other one-on-one jousts with the striker as well as pulling off a couple of other good stops from him. Nimmons was beaten again two minutes from time when Sutherland's inch-perfect cross was nodded in at the back post by Florence. The game ended on a sour note when Daniel Christie - already booked - was shown a straight red for spitting at an opponent. Halkirk manager MacDonald was pleased with how his side effectively killed of the game early on and with some quality finishing. He said: 'After we went 3-0 up, they seemed to want to turn it into a kicking match - that made it very stop-start and broke our flow. 'We scored some really good goals and should have had a few more.' MacDonald is wary of tomorrow's opponents, Bunillidh after their fine 4-3 win in Balintore last Saturday. 'We're expecting a tough game from them as they have started the season well. 'Our squad is also going to be down to the bare bones as a result of the injuries we have,' Tain Thistle - Nimmons, Farquhar, A. Christie, Duff, Cowie, Austin, Durrand, Brand, Thain, D. Christie, Burry. Subs - (all used) - Ross, Gollen and Morrison. Halkirk - MacCulloch, C. Sinclair, Miller, Florence, MacDonald, A. Sinclair, Farquhar (Davidson 30), Sutherland, Ross, Nichol, Sawyer (Elder 54). Ref - Mr G. John, Wick. report provided by Iain Grant End-of-Document | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
