The Maroons were nearly blown on to the top of the Balloch Hill in the first half at Kynoch Park against Brora Rangers. Since the Sutherland men have received financial backing there has been no stopping them, winning the league for the first time ever last year, and powering away again this season.
On Saturday they came to Keith, having scored over 100 goals, conceded 11, and remain unbeaten in the league. Chances are that they would still have won even it hadn’t been so windy, but credit to Gordon Winton and his troops for battling throughout the whole game.
This was the 103rd league tussle between the sides, Keith having won 71 of them, and this was only Brora’s 25th win in the sequence.
Many sides would have crumbled after losing two goals in nine minutes, the second goal was a severely wind assisted 45 yard free kick, but the Maroons stuck at their task. It would have been interesting to see how things would have panned out had Aaron Scully bulged the old onion bag on the hour instead of hitting the crossbar, his team trailing just 2-0 at the time.
The third goal lost could have been prevented, big Grant Munro being able to dive unchallenged to head home. It would have been an unfair reflection on the game had Brora made it 4-0 late on, but Daniel Bell pulled off a fine save to deny Steven Mackay from the penalty spot. That stopped the North’s top scorer from making it 46 goals of the season, and by the way, the Keith rearguard nullified him for most of the afternoon, doing their homework well.
It would take a brave man to bet against Brora retaining their crown, but from a Keith perspective the Maroons made a game of it, and once Grant Mitchell and Michael Dunn bed in at the back they will be a formidable partnership. Certainly the defence looked more assured with Aaron Scully and skipper Stewart Hutcheon doing their bit, whilst wee terrier Greg Smith just seems to get better and better with every outing.