Fort William FC
Reserve Team Match Reports
Fort William FC 0 (R) v 7 Muir of Ord FC
The Fort suffered their worst defeat of the season against title challenging Muir of Ord on Saturday. Four goals by striker Dance, and not one but 2 goals scored direct from corner kicks killed off the Fort in an easy win for the visitors.
Muir of Ord opened the scoring as early as the third minute when a wonderful overhead kick by Dance beat the helpless Smith in Fort's goals.The game was pretty even until the 23rd minute when Dance scored his and his teams second with a header from a corner.
The homes side had their best chance of scoring in the 33rd minute when a shot by MacLellan was cleared off the line.
The Fort went into the second half with hopes of pegging back the lead but the game was efectively over as a contest when in the 47th minute Michael Ellis scored an own goal after a scramble in the box following a corner, puting the visitors 3 up. Morrision made it 4 on 55 minutes when he scored the first of his goals direct from a corner, and Dance completed his hat trick a minute later when he headed home to put the visitors 5 up.
Ten minutes later, Muirs man of the match Morrison scored his second direct from a corner to make it 6 , and in the last minute, Dance scored his fourth to complete a comfortable victory for the visitors.
Forts man of the match was Michael Ridpeath.
Saturday's Reserve Squad: Jay Smith, Alan Love, Jamie Macdonald, Mike Ellis, Scott Lawrie, Chris Macleod, Mike Ridpeath, Mike Gillespie, Declan Macniel, Iain Maclellan, Drew Ferguson, Logan Barker, Bob MacGilivray
Fort William (Res) 2 v 3 Dingwall Thistle
The Fort suffered a narrow home defeat against title chasing Dingwall on Saturday, despite a decent performance.
The Black Isle club had previously beaten Fort by 6 goals earlier in the season but the latest encounter was a much more open affair.
Dingwall quickly went into the lead. A handball from Lawrie in the box gave the visitors a penalty, which Taylor converted, sending the keeper the wrong way.
In 13 minutes, they doubled their lead when a 20 yard shot from Morton found the corner of the net.
Fort came back into the game and pulled a goal back just after the half hour, when a clever lob from Ridpeath found an unmarked Corbett, who duly slotted home.
Fort were on the ascendancy and a free kick from Sean MacDonald brought out a fabolous save from the Dingwall keeper.
However, it was another free kick from the visitors close to half time which brought the 4th goal of the match. Bain beating Fort keeper Jay Smith from 20 yards to make the half time score 3-1.
The second half was a good contest although few clear cut chances were created.
The home side however were handicapped in 75 minutes when Sean MacDonald was red carded in 75 minutes for a second yellow card, leaving Fort to play the rest of the game with 10 men.
They did pull a goal back in 80 minutes when a goalkeeping error left Lopez with the easy task of slotting home into an empty net.
Overall, a creditable performance by Forts young side against one of the top teams in the league.
Fort man of the match was Lewis Corbett , while Dingwalls man of the match was David Taylor.
Fort team;
1. Smith
2. Love
3. J MacDonald
4. Lawrie (replaced by Kennedy)
5. Dunleavy
6. MacNeill
7. Lopez
8. Corbett
9. S MacDonald
10. Ridpeath
11. MacLellan (replaced by Barker)
Fort William (Res) 1 v 5 Golspie Sutherland
Fort suffered a heavy home defeat after a nightmare first half which left the visitors 4 up at half time.
A game which started slow came to life in 13 minutes, when Golspie were awarded a penalty in 13 minutes which striker Bone duly converted to put the away side in the lead.
7 minutes later, they incresed their lead when Whyte scored with a clever chip from the edge of the box.
In 26 minutes Whyte doubed his personal tally when he scored from a neat cut back from 15 yards out.
A minute later the game was over as a contest when Sutherland scored with a tap in to put his side 4 up.
At half time, Fort regrouped. MacNeill came on for Kerr and and MacKintosh was moved up front with Maclellen going into midfield.
However, in 57 minutes Golspies sub Kennedy scored via a deflection from the luckless Haggerty.
15 minutes from time, Fort's other sub, Stephen Lopez scored a fine consolation goal for the home side when a long ball caught out the Golspie defence and he finshed with a sweet angled drive.
A disappointing day for Fort William whose slow start gave them too much to do, especially as they played closer to their best in the second 45.
Fort William team;
MacLeod
McCormack
Lawrie
Haggarty
J. MacDonald
Kerr
Ridpeath
Corbett
MacPhee
MacKintosh
MacLellan
Subs
McNeill
Lopez
Smith
Fort William (Res) 8 v 0 Balintore
Fort William's young team gained their first league win of the season in emphatic fashion.
A barrow load of goals including hat tricks by Hewitt and Corbett killed off a lacklustre Balintore side. The Fort opened the scoring after 13 minutes, when a 20 yard drive by Corbett beat the keeper.
Play was quite even for most of the first half and Fort keeper John Campbell had to look lively on various occasions to stop the visitors coming back into the game. In 38 minutes however, Fort doubled the lead when a cross by MacCormack was finished off by a close range header from Corbett. A minute later, the home side added another when a powerful shot by Hewitt netted via the cross bar. The visitors quickly replied 4 minutes later when a header by Angus MacDonald made the half time scoreline 3-1.
The Fort came out with all guns blazing in second half and Hewitt scored his second with a neat chip over the keeper. After 55 mins, Hewitt was brought down in the box and Corbett was handed the opportunity to complete his hat trick from the spot. He did comfortably, sending the keeper the wrong way.
3 minutes later a free kick by Sean MacDonald beat the goalie to make it 6-1 for the Fort. The homeside brought on sub Logan Barker for Micheal Ridpeath, moving to a 4-4-2 and they added a seventh goal on 70 minutes with a fine header from MacCormack and 5 minutes later, the scoring was complete when Hewitt completed his hat trick after along ball caught out the Balintore defence, leaving the striker to net past the exposed. The Fort brought on their second sub, Jay Smith to replace Campbell in goals with ten minutes remaining.
Overall, a fine performance by the Fort and a confidence boosting win. They now have a run of successive home games which may bring further points to the team.
Team line up;
1. Campbell
2. Love
3. J MacDonald
4. Lawrie
5. Dunleavy
6. JP MacCormack
7. MacNeill
8. Corbett
9. S MacDonald
10. Ridpeath
11. Hewitt
12. Barker
14 Smith
Tain Thistle 1 v 0 Fort William (Res)
Fort Williams first fixture of 2010 ended in a narrow defeat at Tain on Saturday. In a scrappy game, the only goal was scored from the penalty spot in the second half, a well taken strike by Russell Lawrie. Both teams were evenly matched and in a poor first half, few chances were created. The Fort's best chance fell to MacLellan who rounded keeper, but found his final shot was cleared off the line by a Tain defender. With 10 minutes gone in the second half, Tain were awarded what looked like a soft penalty, Lawrie netted comfortably from the spot. Two minutes later, Sean MacDonald received a yellow card following a reckless tackle; Tain's goalkeeper joined him in the book for protesting to the referee. The game had very few other highlights, with the best chance of the second half falling to the Fort’s McPhee whose shot was cleared off the line by a Tain defender. The main positive for the Fort'smanager was the performance of goalkeeper Garry McLeod who comanded his area and dealt comfortably with everything Tain tested him with.
Forts man of the match; Goalkeeper Garry Mcleod.
Fort William starting line up; G Mcleod, MacCormack, S Lawrie, J. MacDonald,A Love, D MacNeill, S Lopez, L Corbett, G McPhee,S MacDonald, I McLellan
Sub;I Dunleavy
Match reporter Andy Calderwood
A disappointing first half from Fort William left them with a mountain to climb as they ended the half 4 goals down. 4 goals in 25 minutes from a more than decent Golspie side ended the game as a contest.
The nearest the Fort got to replying was a lob from Glen just before half time which narrowly sailed over the bar.
The second half was a much more exciting event, and in 47 minutes an own goal put the score at 4-1. Two minutes later a wonderful cross from Sweeney fell to Iain McLellan who lobbed the keeper to give Fort reward for a spirited start.
Fort held their own and competed well until 65 minutes when a fumble from keeper Smith made the scores 5-2 and in 80 minutes the scoring was complete when Golspie’s Alex Bone completed his hat trick with a penalty to make the final score 6-2 to Golspie.
Golspie manager nominated Callum McCormack as Forts man of the match.
Smith, Foggo, Lawrie, D MacLellan, Love, Forbes, McPhee, Corbett, I McLellan, Sweeney, McCormack, Glen, Bushnak
Thurso 4 V 1 Fort William Reserves
Fort suffered defeat after their far flung visit to Thurso on Saturday.
The scoreline however, didn’t reflect the performance of the Fort team who turned in an excellent display.
The away side dominated the first half, and created 3 good chances which they failed to convert. Ian McLellan in particular, causing the Thurso defence problems.
Their pressure was rewarded in 30 minutes when Sean MacDonald gave Fort the lead with a delightful chip from 25 years which left the keeper stranded.
Unfortunately, the lead only lasted 9 minutes as Sinclair slid home an equaliser.
The second half continued in the same vain with Fort being in control.
2 free kicks from MacDonald and a long range drive from Forbes made the keeper work to keep the scores level.
The 2nd half deadlock was finally broken after 70 minutes when Nicol scored after a corner wasn’t properly cleared by the Fort defence.
5 minutes later came the turning point of the match when Fort's MacDonald received a straight red card for a 2 footed tackle on a Thurso opponent.
Thurso then swamped the midfield and the rest of the match was virtually one way traffic, with Thurso confirming their superiority with 2 goals by Bremner and McLean in the last 5 minutes to finish the game at a flattering 4-1 scoreline.
Fort team; Ryan Hunter, Ian Foggo, Alan Love, Daniel McLellan, Scott Lawrie, Sean MacDonald, Declan McNeill, Lewis Corbett, David Forbes, John Sweeney, Ian McLellan.
Subs Calum McCormack, Craig McCormack, Ian Wright (all played)…replaced Corbett, Forbes, Ian McLellan
Balintore 4 V 2 Fort William Reserves
Fort William Reserves played their first league fixture on August 22nd away to Balintore. The Fort started the game brightly and opened the scoring through Roddy Macphee which was quickly followed by a second, scored by Martin Glen. At this point in the match it looked like the Fort would go on to record a memorable victory in their first competative start, however shortly before half time Balintore started to knock the ball about well and scored a deserved goal with about 5 minutes remaining of the half. Balintore continued to apply pressure right up to the end of the first period. Into the second half and Balintore were on the offensive and scored a further three goals in an eight minutes spell between the 64th minute and 72nd minute. The Fort did have a couple of chances to score late in the game but unfortunately these were not taken. The Balintore managers choice of Fort William's man of the match, was Ian MacLellan.
Muir of Ord 2 v 0 Fort William FC (Res)
Fort travelled to Muir of Ord last Saturday and turned in a very credible performance, and can consider themselves unfortunate to have taken nothing from the match. In the first half there was very little between the teams with few chances being created. Most noteworthy incidents included a fine stop from Fort keeper Smith when he had to be alert to stop a powerful shot. At the other end, Ian MacLellan found himself faced with an onrushing keeper outside of his box. The Fort striker attempted to lob him and initially it looked like the keeper had handled outside his area, but referee confirmed the ball had struck him in the face instead and a drop ball was given after treatment to the Muir of Ord keeper.
The second half was only 5 minutes old when the home side opened the scoring. A fine strike from 10 yards by Michael Turner left keeper Smith helpless. 10 minutes later the title challengers doubled their lead after a long ball caught out the home defence and Martin Callum was first to react slotting the ball past the Fort keeper. Fort tried to get back into the game, a long range drive from Shields being their best effort, but the home sides defence remained resolute. Overall it was a game Fort weren’t expected to win, but they turned in their best performance of the season and there were many encouraging signs for the future.
Muir of Ord manager nominated Simon Shields as Forts man of the match.
Fort William team; Smith, McCormack, Lawrie, D MacLennan, Foggo, Shields, McPhee, Corbett, I MacLellan, L MacDonald, MacNeill
Subs – Glen, Finnis – replaced MacDonald and MacNeill
Reporter Andy Calderwood