A Feast of Football

Nearly forty spectators joined Kilchoan's two football teams on the MV Islander for yesterday's trip to Coll for the annual football derby.  Little did they know what a feast of football they were to enjoy - though the sun obviously did, as it stayed out all day to watch two super games.

Considering that a fresh force 4 had bounced the Islander around on the way across, Kilchoan ladies looked cheerful at the start of the game.  They played a seven-a-side match, twenty-minutes each way, and this was their first outing to Coll.

Kilchoan started as they intended to finish, with pressure on the Coll defence from the kickoff.  If anything, the first goal, after ten minutes, was late in arriving, but a fine attacking move by Kilchoan's forwards finally put Rosie through.

From then on it was a rout, with the score 0-3 by half time.  This picture shows Charmaine putting in one of two she scored, Rosie having lured the goalie off her line.

This was a rare sight - Nan, Kilchoan's goalkeeper, being put under a moment's pressure late in the first half.  But Coll's occasional efforts were in vain, as Kilchoan kept a tight defence and dominated the midfield throughout the second half, while their forwards ran riot.  Time and again, Kilchoan broke through, with Rosie adding a further three goals in the half to give her hat-trick plus one.  The final score was 0-6 to Kilchoan.

The Diary is aware that Kilchoan claim seven goals, but agrees with the referee - it was 'only' six, though it could have been twice that.  Not surprisingly, Rosie was voted player of the match, though great credit goes to the whole team for a really fine display of football.  This is an impressive team by any standards.

No-one can suggest that Kilchoan FC weren't trained and ready for this match - one had only to watch their pre-match preparations to see how seriously they took this game.  But the Coll pitch is a difficult one to play.  It lies in a bowl of land on Coll's northwest coast open, to the wind and sea.  With a fresh breeze blowing down the pitch, a slight slope in the same direction, and a bumpy surface, control of the ball was always going to be difficult - and Coll winning the toss and choosing to play the first half into the wind only added to Kilchoan's problems.

Despite a strong start from Coll, Kilchoan adapted to the conditions quickly, with their first good scoring opportunity coming within minutes of the start.  The defense quickly learned that a hefty boot up the pitch resulted in the ball running away, so it was heartening to see that the action was largely in Coll's half.  However, against the run of play, and following a short series of defensive errors, Coll managed to put the ball past goalie Justin into the Kilchoan net.

To make matters worse, the team lost two of its players early on, with captain Gus and stalwart Gordon going off a few minutes later.  However, being one goal and two men down after only ten minutes seemed to settle Kilchoan, for they redoubled their pressure, and after just over thirty minutes play, Liam scored a well-deserved equaliser.

What was so surprising in the first half was that Coll, who should have known how to work the conditions - after all, by Coll standards, one imagines the weather was quite friendly - yet Kilchoan seemed to read them better,

The second half started with some very promising action at Coll's end, with Mark and Liam pressing their defence and breaking through.  It was a blow to Coll that they too then lost two men to injury, one their goalie.

Kilchoan's hard work paid off when, half an hour into the second half, Craig took a neat pass from Mark and put Kilchoan into the lead 1-2 - picture above.

Kilchoan continued to press hard but, against the run of play, a melee in the Kilchoan goalmouth resulted in a penalty being given which was duly converted to even the score.

It really did look as if, with only minutes of the game to go, Kilchoan could have hung on for the 2-2 draw which would have been a fair result but, again, the defence was caught off guard allowing Coll to put in a crippling last goal to give a final score of 3-2.

In the award ceremony afterwards, Coll as much as admitted they had not played well, and gave the man of the match trophy to Kilchoan's Liam.

This was a great afternoon's football, village football at it's very best, and it was followed by food, a beer or ten, and good company at the Coll Hotel.  Many thanks to the teams at Coll and Kilchoan, the hotel, the crew of the Islander, and the organisers of the fixture for giving us a thoroughly enjoyable and memorable day out.

MV Islander is run by Staffa Tours.

The Coll Hotel's website is here.