Inverness & District F.A.
Premier Division
Monday 31st July 2023
Kick Off 19.00 Actual 19.03
Avoch 3 Clachnacuddin Reserves 1, attendance 70
45’ 1-0
56’ 2-0
69’ 2-1
84’ 3-1
@ Coronation Park
Toll Road
Avoch
IV9 8PR
No Admission or Programme.
The Inverness & District F.A. league is made up of three divisions (Premier, 1 and 2) where each division schedule games to be played Monday through to Wednesday, each division having it’s allocated day for fixtures.
Tonight’s game was in the Premier Division and looked to be the pick of the bunch. It was 2nd versus 7th (out of 9) in the league table, but was a dress rehearsal for this coming Saturdays clash between the two sides in the Highland Amateuer Cup semi-final, which will take place at Culbokie.
Avoch, pronounced ‘Och’, is on The Black Isle, looking south back across the Moray Firth. The ground is on the right hand side as you enter the village on the A832 if coming from Inverness. The players get changed at the Avoch Community Centre across the road from the pitch and walk the 100 yards or so to the ground ready changed into their kits. The pitch is partly dug into the side of a grass bank, so gives excellent views of not only the pitch, but also the backdrop of the Moray Firth when watching from behind the one goal end. Access is only really on two sides, but a few watched from the entrance side, but it isn’t really wide enough to watch from there. Coronation Park was opened in 1953 and a magnificent set of listed iron gates adorn the entrance, donated in 1959 by Rosehaugh House, following the demolition of the mansion.
The match was very keenly contested and was still an excellent spectacle despite Clachnacuddin having a man sent off after just eleven minutes, for a late tackle that resulted in the injured Avoch player being unable to take any further part. It still took until what turned out to be the last kick of the first half for the hosts to break the deadlock though, when a corner from the left was volleyed in at the far post. Eleven minutes into the second half it was 2-0, when following a mix up between defender and ‘keeper, the ball was chipped to the far post and headed in unchallenged. Clachnacuddin pushed hard and in a two minute spell had a header off the underside of the crossbar and a deflected shot come back off the post, before making it 2-1 with a 20 yard shot curled into the far top corner. Avoch hit the crossbar themselves, before an angled shot into the far corner made the game safe with six minutes left.
It had rained almost non stop since ten o’clock this morning, but finally eased off about an hour before kick off and actually remained dry for the entire match. Despite the amount of rain the pitch was in excellent condition.
