Sport / Inter-county: More Milne Cup joy but hockey side beaten on penalties
SHETLAND retained the Milne Cup for the fourth consecutive year on Saturday after a 2-0 win over old foes Orkney.
The blues immediately exacted their revenge on Orkney after a 3-2 defeat in the Island Games just last week, by brushing them aside in a mostly one-sided inter-county football clash.
Gary Scott, who was not in the county squad until the day before the game, was drafted in to replace the sick Sam Maver and started the game at the Gilbertson Park on Saturday.
He was part of a forward line including James Aitken, John Allan and Lewis Harkness who continued to cause the Orkney defence problems, without finding the back of the net.
However just before the half-time whistle Allan had the chance to open the scoring after referee Dominic Mann awarded a penalty.
It came after a neat exchange between Aitken and Scott, with the ball striking the hand of an Orkney defender as Scott looked to get on to a through ball.
Allan stepped up and sent the Orkney keeper the wrong way to put the blues 1-0 up at the break.
It was no less than Shetland deserved and they continued to exert pressure on Orkney in the second period without finding a second goal, with experienced midfielder Neil Laurenson going close with a superb drive from the edge of the box.
With Orkney finally finding their feet and going close at the other end, man of the match Harkness took matters into his own hands and danced beyond the red defence before finding the back of the net to make it 2-0.
Shetland played out the rest of the game comfortably to make it four wins on the bounce in the Milne Cup fixture.
There was no such luck for the hockey team in their quest to win the Lady Hamilton Cup for a third consecutive year for the first time ever.
The blues took the lead within the opening minutes in Brae on Saturday, Cara Leask finding the backboard from a penalty corner.
That started a see-saw encounter which swung back and forth, with Orkney soon levelling the game up before the end of the first quarter.
Rhea Nicolson gave Shetland back the lead, again from a short corner, but with the very last action of the first half Orkney scored from their own short corner to make it 2-2.
Orkney took the lead for the first time when a shot took a wicked deflection off a Shetland defenders’ stick and looped over the head of keeper Megan Nicholson.
But the blues had the chance to level the game up when they were awarded a penalty flick for a foul as Cara Leask went to go around the Orkney keeper to score.
Megan Hibbert stepped up and scored the penalty to make it 3-3.
Shetland thought they had won the game in the dying seconds when they scored from a penalty corner, but the umpires ruled that the shot had not hit the backboard from the first shot after the corner was taken.
That sent the game to running penalties, and there was heartache for Shetland after Orkney triumphed 3-2.
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