Culbokie make Avoch pay the penalty
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CULBOKIE upset the odds to clinch the Premier League Cup – their first ever trophy since joining the Inverness and District Amateur League – when they defeated Black isle neighbours Avoch 5-3 on penalties after a 2-2 draw at Culloden.
Darran Goller scored the only goal of the first half in the 16th minute at the near post after a flick on from Chris Kelly set him up.
The closest Avoch came to a goal in the first half was a long range shot from Arron Christie which rebounded off the crossbar.
Culbokie keeper Grant Beattie was forced to pull off a couple of saves after the break but substitute Gordon Bruce had a chance to wrap up the win in regulation time when he was clean through on goal in the 80th minute but he sent his effort wide.
It looked as if Culbokie had already done enough to secure their first piece of silverware.
But then Scott Houston popped up with a dramatic equaliser in the fourth minute of stoppage time to bring about another 30 minutes of the final.
Avoch got their noses in front in the 95th minute when Ian Penwright scored following a corner kick.
Penwright had the chance to make it 3-1 shortly afterwards but Beattie pulled off another great save.
It proved to be a costly miss as Ryan Cameron came off the bench to race on to Aidan Hersee’s through ball and tie things up again.
There were no more goals and it was down to penalties.
The first seven spot kicks were converted to put Culbokie 4-3 up. Beattie then saved Penwright’s spot kick before man-of-the-match Jack Hudson scored the winner.
Culbokie manager Michael Kerr felt his side were deserved winners, saying: “We knew we had to stop Avoch getting into an attacking rhythm and compete with them, and I thought we managed to do that. The early goal gave us something to defend.
“I thought the boys were excellent, from one to 16, I can’t praise them enough for their efforts.”
