Castletown manager expects ‘two leagues within one’ in Caithness top flight
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Castletown manager Tom McKenna expects the top flight of Caithness summer football this season to be effectively two leagues within one division.
He shares the widely held view that last year’s champions and runners-up, Wick Groats and Pentland United, will battle it out with High Ormlie Hotspur and Staxigoe United for the top four places while Castletown, Wick Thistle, John O’Groats and Lybster seek to be the best of the rest and avoid either automatic relegation or the play-off spot.
“We want to progress again,” McKenna said after Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Staxigoe at Harmsworth Park. “Our goal last year was to stay in the division, which we achieved.
"Now it’s just to progress and develop a wee bit further, wherever that takes us.
“Some people think I’m a pessimist and negative – but I’m a realist.
“We’ve got young boys coming in and we’ve got to develop them. We’re going to go out and compete in every game. I wouldn’t turn up otherwise, if I didn't think we were going to go out and win every game of football.
“But if we can finish mid-table then I think that’s progression again and we can build on it. Anything above that is a bonus.
“In my humble opinion I think you’ve got two leagues within the division. Groats and Pentland United are always going to be there or thereabouts.
“We're just after progression. We’ll go out to be competitive and try to get as many points as we can.”
Staxigoe United have brought in Graham MacNab, Jack Henry and Joe Anderson, while Grant MacNab still has six games of his suspension to serve.
Manager Colin Sinclair said: “There are no easy games in that league. We wanted to strengthen to try and compete a bit more than we have over the last couple of seasons.
“Ideally we’ll get to a cup final and hopefully win a cup, and then try to compete as far up the league as we can.
“We’ve taken in some really good experienced players, but we’ve also lost a lot of players. Our squad is smaller this year than last year.
“What we’ve been looking for is a goalscorer and Graham usually scores about 30 goals a season. We wanted another big, strong, solid centre-half, which we've got in Joe. Jack is ex-Academy, a box-to-box midfielder.
“Some of these guys are lacking a wee bit of fitness. New boys have come in, we’re starting afresh again, and it’ll still take a bit of time to adapt and get going. That was only our second game and we are certainly looking rusty.”
John O’Groats came close to causing an upset at home to Pentland United on Friday, only for the Stabbies to come away with a 3-2 victory.
Cameron Montgomery gave United an early lead but Eddie MacGregor equalised before Jordan Howden put JOG in front from the penalty spot.
The Stabbies turned it round in the closing 10 minutes with a double from James Murray.
James Mackintosh hit a hat-trick as High Ormlie Hotspur won 4-1 at Lybster. Liam Bain was also on target for Spurs, with Lybster’s goal coming from Bobby Gunn.
There was one second division match on Friday, with Acks and Swifts sharing the points in a 2-2 draw. Acks’ goals came from Kyle Innes (penalty) and Ben Durrand with his first for the club, with Mark McCoustra and Ebisine Ambakederemo replying for Swifts.
Steven Hughes scored a hat-trick in Watten’s 4-1 home win against Pentland on Saturday. Kai Cameron also scored for the village outfit, with Pentland’s reply coming via an own goal.
Results – Friday – Division One: John O’Groats 2, Pentland United 3; Lybster 1, High Ormlie Hotspur 4; Wick Thistle 1, Wick Groats 3. Division Two: Acks 2, Swifts 2.
Saturday – Division One: Staxigoe United 0, Castletown 0. Division Two: Watten 4, Pentland 1.
Fixtures – Tuesday, April 30 – Colin Macleod Memorial Cup, round one: Acks v Pentland; High Ormlie Hotspur v Wick Thistle; Watten v Halkirk; Wick Groats v Keiss (all 6.30pm).
Wednesday, May 1 – Colin Macleod Memorial Cup, round one: Castletown v Lybster; Staxigoe United v John O’Groats; Swifts v Top Joe’s (all 6.30pm).
Quarter-finals on May 3 and 4 (one tie on Friday, three on Saturday).
