North Uist United 3 Eriskay 4

We started the game on Friday night really poorly, with the recent run of games clearly starting to show for some of the lads. Eriskay were on the front foot from the off and created some half decent opportunities early on. Tom produced a couple of decent stops in the first exchanges along with some decent defending to keep them out. Unfortunately their talisman Dom MacAulay couldn’t be kept quiet for long scoring two in the first half despite our best efforts to nullify his threat. We did have a couple of efforts on goal, the best was a low shot from David Downham which hit the inside of the post and flashed across the face of goal. However we couldn’t claw a goal back.

At half time we discussed ways to improve and we changed to a 4-4-2 formation to try and have more of a threat up top. We had a large chunk of the possession in the second half and created many more chances than in the first but still Dom managed to score another two for Eriskay against the run of play. We refused to give in though and in the last 15 mins we really came to life. Adam won a penalty for us on the 82nd minute which Andrew MacSween converted well. On the 84th minute Andrew got his second after a good run into the box from Ruri Macleod. The pick of our goals was certainly the third on the 86th minute after Ross hit a ball over the top and Andrew took it in his stride hitting it over their keeper on the volley. For a while it looked like we were going to complete the comeback with an onslaught on the Eriskay goal in the final stages but Eriskay held firm and saw out the win.

MOTM: Mark MacInnes just wins it in this game with his good defending throughout but mainly for his drive and energy to get forward in the second half from right back often finding himself firing a cross in after running the full length of the pitch. Not to mention his shot that came off the underside of the bar right on the final whistle. Ben also had an excellent game and Andrew put away three goals so was also close to the award along with our keeper Tom who made some crucial saves to keep us in the tie.

Our next game is on Tuesday night in Paible 7pm v Iochdar Saints. Hope to see a good crowd there again.

Many thanks for your support

Fraser