Eain Mackintosh Cup Final

A bumper crowd watches the play

Ross Allan on the attack

James Murray blasts wide

Michael Gray blocks Gordy MacNab and gets sent off

Michael Gray got sent off for this body check on Gordy MacNab

Goalie Darryn MacKay fouls Gordy MacNab to give away a penalty

Gordy MacNab side foots the penalty low into the right corner

Gordy MacNab accepts the man of the match cup from Stewart Munro

Mary Mackintosh presents the Eain Mackintosh Memorial cup to Staxigoe Utd captain Colin Sinclair

Mary Mackintosh and grandchildren with the winning Staxigoe Utd team

Staxigoe Utd beat Pentland Utd 2-1 to win the Eain Mackintosh Memorial cup in Halkirk today.  A bumper crowd enjoyed the dull, but dry weather. Staxigoe's Gordy MacNab had the best early chance, but blasted over. Pentland had most of the play in the first half and Ross Allan scored after 25 mins, by dribbling past 4 defenders to slot the ball past the Staxigoe keeper Daniel Budge.

Staxigoe came out fighting in the second half and had some good chances. Martin Banks clipped the top of the bar with a great strike. The turning point came after 25 mins when Gordy MacNab burst through and was blocked by Pentland Utd keeper Michael Gray just outside the box. Gray was sent off and Darryn Mackay took over between the sticks.

A few minutes later, Gordy MacNab burst through again and was felled by Darryn in the box. Many thought it was a sending off offence, but only a penalty was awarded. MacNab slotted the ball home. 2 mins later MacNab latched onto a through ball and hit a first time shot low into the net.

The Pentland Utd front three of Ross Allan, James Murray and Lee MacDougal couldn't find a way through and the score finished at 2-1.

Gordy MacNab won the man of the match award. He was a constant threat to the Stabbs defence who couldn't handle his speed and power.

Professional Imagemaker magazine feature

Delighted that my article about taking photos of Scotland's home games in the RBS 2013 Six Nations Championships has been published in the June/July edition of Professional Imagemaker magazine. The front cover is a pic of Miss England, Charlotte Holmes.

Wick Groats vs Avoch (3-1)

James MacKay and Gary Urquhart

Graham MacNab and Stevie Pirie

Graham MacNab just misses a cross

Grant MacNab breaks free on the left wing

Graham Elder books Grant MacNab

Greg Shearer tries to beat Martin MacAllistair

No way through for James MacKay

Shaun Kerr tries to turn Kyle Ross

Alan Sinclair jumps on top of Stewart Ross to celebrate the 2nd

Greg Shearer scores the third

A happy Greg Shearer on right

Shaun Kerr is sent off late in the game for kicking a Groats player

Wick Groats beat Avoch 3-1 in the quarter-final of the Highland Amateur cup today at Upper Bignold Park, Wick. A huge crowd saw Groats go in at half-time 1-0 down, but they kicked into gear in the second half. Substitute Craig Ross fired in a fast daisy cutter from 30 yards to beat the Avoch keeper Jodie Campbell at his near post.

A free kick at the edge of the box by Stewart Ross flew underneath the body of the keeper to make it 2-1. Greg Shearer burst through the defence to dink the ball over the advancing keeper to make it 3-1.

Staxigoe Utd lost 2-1 to Golspie Stafford after extra time and Groats host Golspie Stafford in the semis.

Kirkwall Thorfinn beat Westside 1-0. The Acks vs Pentland Utd was postponed by the SAFA as Castletown have appealed against the fine they received for not turning up to play Pentland Utd in an earlier round. The winners play Kirkwall Thorfinn at home.

Speaking at the The Societies 2014 Convention

I'm delighted and honoured to have been asked to speak at The Societies Convention in Jan 2014. It is the largest photographic Convention in Europe with around 15,000 attending over the 6 days.

There will be over 100 professional photographers from all over the World speaking at the event. I will be one of  3 or 4 talking about sports photography.

See;

http://www.swpp.co.uk/convention/2014/title-class-Gunn77038SportSunday.htm

Halkirk Gala Floats

The Halkirk Gala floats were a great success last night. 5 floats were in the parade and they were all good. The Milton Mob won first prize with the Edinburgh zoo pandas getting a helping hand from Councillor Willie "AI" MacKay.

Halkirk v Castletown (3-2)

Halkirk beat Castletown 3-2 in the quarter-final of the Eain Mackintosh cup tonight at Recreation Park.  Lee Elder scored two cracking goals for Halkirk, but was sent off near the end. The score was 2-1 to Halkirk with 6 mins left and Castletown equalised only to let Halkirk score 3 mins later.

Other scores:

Acks 6-0 Lybster
Pentland Utd 3-1 John O'Groats
Staxigoe Utd 4-1 Swifts

Semi-finals:

Halkirk vs Pentland Utd
Acks vs Staxigoe Utd