It was United’s third home game on the spin as John O’Groats made the short hop across the north coast for the Eann Macintosh quarter final. The visitors won the toss and elected to play up the Ham Park slope in near perfect conditions for football. Ross Allan looked to be in the mood from the first minute picking up as he had left off from the Swifts game, he quickly showed tremendous acceleration to nip away from Green and then Rosie driving to the bye line before cutting the ball across goal where Richardson made a goal saving clearance at the expense of a corner. There is always a physical aspect when these two sides meet and that again was evident in the early exchanges after 10 mins when Sean Munro felled Ross Allan on the edge of the area, Lewis Harrold took the resultant freekick right on the edge of the area but his shot failed to beat the wall. John O’Groats first attack of note nearly struck gold when Sean Munro launched a long freekick into the area the strong sun seem to blind everyone and it was more luck than good judgement when Gray somehow blocked the ball away on the goal line. United had another opportunity from a set-piece after 15 mins when James Murray has upended 25 yards from goal by Graeme Tait this time Mark Nichol assumed responsibility but unfortunately it was the same result as Harrold’s effort. The breakthrough came after 20 mins when another brilliant Allan run made the opening beating Rosie again before setting up Murray who had his shooting leg nipped away from him and referee Makhouli pointed to the spot, after a lengthy stoppage to restore order Mark Nichol sent Henderson the wrong way. Ten minutes later it should have been 2-0 when Murray sent Nichol clean in the striker appeared to have done everything right as he waltzed round Henderson but inexplicably fired over the gaping goal. John O’Groats are renowned for their resilience though and Stuart Sinclair snr brought a decent save from Gray a few minutes later when he won the ball in midfield and drove to within 20 yards of goal and let fly but the keeper managed to get two hands on the ball diving to his right. The final action of the half fittingly was another bit of brilliance from Allan who beat Rosie on half way then skipped passed Stuart Sinclair jnr before driving into the box but Henderson pulled off a brilliant save at the winger’s feet.
Half time
Pentland United 1-0 JoG
Groats would have felt would have felt that given they had held United to a solitary goal lead and they now had geographical advantage of heading down the gentle slope of Ham Park that the game was very much all to play for. However the difficulty of the task increased less than five minutes into the half when Allan racing down the left beat Rosie then cut in and fired in a low powerful shot that squeezed in between Henderson and his right hand post. If that wasn’t bad enough for the visitors Mark Nichol stretched the lead further less than 5 mins later when took Harrold’s pass on the run with Munro but expertly rolled the centre back to give him a clean run in on goal cutting in from the right he fired in a powerful shot that Henderson got a hand to but could not keep out. The visitors were rather shell shocked and a lot of their game plans were now out of the window but they manfully rallied and Grant Budge set off on one of his trademark mazy runs after 65 mins which ended in a decent effort but too straight to trouble Gray. United were not fluent but every now and then they would produce a flowing move of real quality just minutes after Budge’s effort United did just that and it started with Michael Steven feeding Petrie who in turn fired the ball into Nichol’s feet who produced an audacious overhead pass releasing Allan who attempted to take the shot on first time, which was highly ambitious to say the least and his shot flew over the top. After a spell where the visitors had held the upper hand in terms of possession and territory United hit them with a sucker punch Allan picked up Darryn Mackay’s feed on halfway and fired the ball ahead of James Murray who raced into the box in the left hand channel but rather than take the shot on with his left he turned in the box and chipped a delightful ball to the far post where Nichol took a touch and finished with great aplomb. Groats though again showed tremendous spirit to rally again with just over 20 to go Grant Budge chased down what seemed a lost cause on the edge of the box and forced a corner for the flag kick Jappy stole a march on Petrie to send a powerful header into the roof of the net much to the annoyance of the United camp but probably on balance of play no less than Groats deserved. However the goal did seem to waken United from their slumber and they almost immediately hit back through Darryn Mackay who made a telling late run into the area but his flick from 16 yard just cleared the bar with Henderson scrambling. Ross Allan one of the outstanding performers on the park then struck again with 10 mins left he picked the ball up on the right after Groats had surrendered cheap possession cutting inside and with no real back lift he let fly with a brilliant effort from fully 25 yards that beat Henderson all ends up as it hit the roof of the net. The scoring wasn’t quite complete as United took advantage of the gaps that were now appearing in the Groats rearguard a quick throw from Nichol saw Darryn Mackay burst into the area and from 18 yards send a delightful chip over the helpless Henderson.
Full time
Pentland United 6-1 JoG
1. M Gray 2. G Mackay (J Mckechnie 71) 3. L Harrold (D Manson 65) 4. G Steven 5. D Mackay 6. M Steven (c) 7. L Sutherland (T Watts 74) 8. J Murray 9. M Nichol 10. R Allan 11. M Petrie
View from the goal
Again we produced some super football at times but seemed drift back into mediocrity with exactly the same ease and it is a source of frustration. I think the score line probably flattered us slightly in the Groats did have decent spells of possession but credit to the defensive side of things it looked and was pretty solid. For me Ross Allan was the stand out
player and if he can maintain that level of performance he will be a huge asset. Now to the Champions and a very tough match. They just seem to have that ability to do enough but we need to be positive and hopefully put on another strong performance.