Halkirk Utd vs Thurso

Halkirk keeper Gordon Clark saves a shot from James Murray

Halkirk's Sean Munro with a perfect sliding tackle, denies Graham MacNab

Halkirk striker Murray MacKintosh takes on Thurso's Alan Sinclair

Halkirk's Martin Sutherland chips over Graeme Williamson to score, but it was ruled out for offside

Martin Sutherland takes on Thurso's David Cowie

Sandy Sutherland scores the third goal

Stuart Florence sliding through the snow

James Murray scores the 4th with a penalty straight down the middle

Alan Hughes stops Thurso's Graham MacNab

Thurso beat Halkirk 5-0 today in the cup semi-final at the Recreation Park, Halkirk.  The pitch had a scattered and patchy layer of snow, but was just playable. There were lots of snow and hail showers throughout the match. I had 5 layers of clothing, 3 pairs of socks, waterproofs, hat, gloves and scarf!

Sean Stewart opened the scoring early on and then Thurso missed a penalty. Thurso had some good chances, but couldn't find a way past Gordon Clark and his resolute defence. It was 1-0 at half-time.

Halkirk had some good pressure early in the 2nd half and full back Martin Sutherland thought he had equalised after chipping over Graeme Williamson. However, it was ruled off-side and it seemed a harsh decision.

James Murray had an easy tap in after Gordon Clark parried a strong low shot and James was first to react in the slippy conditions. Sandy Sutherland scored the 3rd with a shot that Gordon Clark got a strong hand to, but it just fell under the bar. James Murray scord the 4th from the penalty spot, after being tripped in the box by Sean Munro. I left with 10 mins to go and Thurso just scored the 5th as I was leaving (to go to the Caithness rugby match in Thurso).

There was a lot of the Wick Academy players in the crowd - as their game was postponed.