Kilchoan v Iona - Match Report

Iona arrived early so a decision was made to bring the kick-off forward, with the result that some of us missed the first thirty minutes of the game, arriving to find Kilchoan already one goal down.

Despite some determined football from Kilchoan's attack, Iona dominated the last fifteen minutes of the half, but any hopes of Kilchoan going into the interval on equal terms were dashed when Iona scored their second.  Only several good saves from Justin Cameron prevented Kilchoan from an almost impossible up hill struggle in the second half.

In the dying minutes of the first half Kilchoan came back well, this corner offering a last opportunity to pull back just before the half-time break.

Iona started the second half strongly, but their hopes of moving still further ahead were dashed when Ewan Laurie had his shirt pulled in the Iona box.

Calum MacPhail stepped up and converted the penalty.

A period of frenetic activity followed, with the ball spending much of its time in orbit while some fairly determined tackling happened back on the ground, one notably firm tackle coming from Kilchoan veteran Gus MacLean.

There followed a spell of much more organised pressure from the Kilchoan attack, with no less than three corners in succession, offering golden opportunities to level the score, with the second being cleared off the line.  Despite this Kilchoan could not capitalise on their chances.  One problem Kilchoan suffered was the inability of the mid field, who worked hard and often won the ball, to feed the ball to the wings, where Craig Lindsay showed some justifiable frustration.

With play going Kilchoan's way, the result was sealed when an incident in the Kilchoan box led to a disputed penalty decision.  Despite another brave attempt to cover the shot, goalie Justin was frustrated.

 Kilchoan didn't lie down and some good play between Nicki Docherty and Calum MacPhail on the right gave Kilchoan some hope in the dying minutes.  The final score, 1-3, was fully justified, as Iona were both stronger in defence and more dangerous in attack.  If Kilchoan is to come back from this sort of result, the team needs more controlled and thoughtful movement of the ball into space, and particularly to some talented attackers on the wing.