Six of the best from Lochinver
LOCHINVER maintained their winning start to the season in the North West Sutherland League with an impressive 6-0 home victory over Embo.
Stuart MacKay led the way with a hat-trick, while Daniel Hutchison chipped in with a brace. Ben Bruce was Lochinver’s other scorer.
Tongue United were the week’s highest scorers after a 10-1 romp at Durness.
United took the lead via an own goal in the 10th minute and a double from Richard MacKay put them in command.
Durness were awarded a penalty after Chris Jeffries handled in the box and Jamie Dawson made no mistake from the spot.
But it was one-way traffic after the break. Richard MacKay completed his hat-trick and Daniel MacKay, Ian Sutherland, Stuart MacLeod, Ruaraidh MacLeod, Jason MacKay and Michael Gunn all got in on the act.
Elsewhere, Melvich held on for a 3-2 home victory over Golspie Stafford, while Brora Wanderers won by a similar score against Lairg Rovers.
The previous week, Golspie Stafford were knocked out of the Highland Amateur Cup following a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Muir of Ord United at Pavilion Park.
Stafford, Sutherland’s last representatives in the competition, gave as good as they got in a goalless first half. The visitors created the best chance of the first half just before the break when Gary MacKenzie cut in from the flank and fired a shot narrowly past the upright.
Stafford’s Jonathan Jones passed up another good chance early in the second period when he fired straight at the United goalkeeper.
Despite a decent spell from Stafford, it was the home side who took the lead in the 67th minute when Daniel MacLennan took advantage of a mix-up in the Stafford defence to net.
An unfortunate own-goal shortly afterwards put United 2-0 up when an Iain Penwright shot was chested into his own net by Adam Smith. There was no way back for Stafford in the 80th minute when MacLennan capped a fine display with a low drive.
In the North West Sutherland League, Tongue United registered a 2-0 home win against Helmsdale United thanks to goals from Alistair Robertson and Richard MacKay, while Embo were awarded a 3-0 victory after scheduled opponents Melvich were unable to travel due to a transport hitch.