Tait delighted to retain Milne Cup in face of ‘strongest Orkney performance in years’
SHETLAND’S footballers defied “the strongest Orkney team and performance for a number of years” to lift the Milne Cup for a fifth successive year on Saturday.
Manager Jim Tait believes his side should have won by a more comfortable margin following their pulsating 4-3 victory in Kirkwall this weekend.
Having led through an early Jack Clubb header, Orkney drew level when Toby MacLeod fired home from a scramble at a corner.
But Shetland – who dominated possession and created more chances than their opponents – went 3-1 in front through a Greg Tulloch double before the break.
The Whitedale forward finished off a fine pass from Hayden Jamieson, expertly laid off by Euan Irvine, before looping a cross-cum-shot over the head of goalkeeper Cameron McConnachie from an acute angle.
A see-saw second half saw George Ewing halve the deficit to 3-2, before substitute Reece Black slid Shetland 4-2 up just minutes after making his county debut.
There was to be one dramatic late twist, when a low kick out from Shetland keeper Henry Oldbury was superbly returned to the net from near the halfway line by Ewing again for 4-3.
Despite a late onslaught, Shetland held out to retain the Milne Cup for an eighth time in the last 10 years.
Tait, who was returning to the touchline for the first time in 30 years, said he felt his side were more comfortable than the scoreline suggested.
“I did think we should have won by two goals,” he told Shetland News on Monday.
“Considering the guys we had missing, I think the boys did really well. The midfield linked really well and Lewis Harkness was excellent, especially in the first half.
“Calvin Leask never stopped running, Jack Clubb sat in there and won the ball constantly and scored a tremendous goal.”
In BBC Radio Orkney’s coverage of the game, Harkness was the name singled out repeatedly as the one to shackle – but Tait said the Spurs man is a tough man to stop.
“Lewis just seems to drift past players,” he said. “He’s a class act – I’m glad we have him on our side.
“They were obviously worried about him because they put quite a physical player, to put it mildly, against him. But Lewis definitely got the best of him in the first half.
“He started to struggle with cramp but we wanted to keep him on, and he managed to play the full 98 minutes.”
Tait added he did not know “where the eight extra minutes came from at the end” as Orkney pushed for an unlikely leveller in Kirkwall.
But he praised their opponents after what proved to be tricky test in the swirling wind at the Pickaqouy Centre on Saturday afternoon.
“They’re an up and coming team,” Tait said.
“I think that was the strongest Orkney team and performance for a number of years.
“Coupled with us missing so many players, we knew it was going to be a close game.”
Two-goal Tulloch earned praise from the Shetland coaches for his return to inter-county action, albeit with question marks over whether his second was a cross or a shot.
“As long as it goes in the back of the net I’m no caring,” Tait said.
“We didn’t even have him in the original squad but when we spoke to him Greg was delighted to come in and he trained really well.
“He’s deceptively fast. I think he’s fitted in really well with the whole squad, it’s a close knit squad.”
Tait and his assistant John Thomson now face a wait to see if they will be able to lead Shetland out at next summer’s Island Games in Faroe Islands and the home inter-county, or if they will walk away with a 100 per cent win record.
“I think we have our assessment over the next week,” Tait said.
“We’re still keen to stay on another year if they want us for the Island Games and next year’s inter-county.
“After that I think they should be looking to the future.”
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