As home league openers go, it doesn’t get much more dramatic than Saturday at Shawbost!
We were wasteful in front of goal in the opening period, not really troubling the Inverness goalie despite having plenty chances.
We got a reprieve midway through the first half when John MacAskill expertly saved an Inverness penalty.
Inverness however got two quick-fire goals right at the end of the half & we were up against it.
We came flying out of the traps in the second half but with no goals forthcoming, we made a couple of tactical tweaks. Peter Gomez came on at wing centre, Kieran MacDonald came on at wing forward and Donnie MacRae moved from defence into attack.
The changes proved effective & Kieran got us one back on 66 minutes by following in after a shot & converting. Then three minutes later he unleashed a pearler into the roof of the net from distance to level the scores.
This led to a frenetic final twenty minutes with neither team wanting to share the points.
Chance after chance came our way but it wasn’t looking like we were going to find a winner with the Inverness keeper making some fine saves.
Just when it looked like all hope was lost, up stepped captain Scott MacLeod. Scott got free from his marker deep into stoppage time and having collected a free hit, he fired a beauty from 30 yards into the top corner to complete the comeback & give us the win by three goals to two.
The noise when we scored the winner was maybe as loud as Shawbost has ever been. An absolutely massive thank you to the healthy crowd that was there to cheer us on. The support you provided from the sidelines went a long way to keeping us going.
Each & every one of you were tremendous.
The visit of Inverness Shinty Club to Lewis has become a highlight of our season each year as they always choose to make a weekend of it. Despite what was no doubt a sore result for them to take, they were an absolute pleasure to be around for the evening and we hope they enjoyed their night in Stornoway.
We look forward to heading to the Bught for the return match in July.
No home game this Saturday 27th May unfortunately. Instead we will be making a first-ever visit to An Aird to play Fort William for a place in the semi-finals of the Strathdearn Cup.