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KINGUSSIE went 10 points clear at the top of the Premier division thanks to two second-half Ronald Ross goals at Inveraray - in a match that the home side dominated for long periods but failed to take their chances.
With Russell Dallas switched to a defensive role to mark Inveraray play-maker Gary MacPherson, Kingussie found themselves on the back foot for most of the first-half with Inveraray’s centre line ensuring that Ronald Ross and Fraser Inglis saw little of the ball.
The home side moved the ball at pace with characteristic slick passing causing early problems, but they repeatedly failed to use the wider areas of the final third of the park and made Kingussie’s defensive task much easier than it might have been.
After 17 minutes Kingussie were almost gifted a goal when a Scott Robertson mis-hit fell to Ross 15 yards out but Robertson recovered well to put Ross under pressure and the ball went wide.
With Kingussie restricted to hitting on the break, another chance fell after 36 minutes with Fraser Inglis’s shot across the face of goal going narrowly wide.
But although the visitors came more into the game in the final five minutes of the half, neither goalkeeper had to make a save over the opening 45 minutes.
The second-half proved very different, with Kingussie starting strongly and Graeme MacPherson making a good save to thwart a low Inglis effort. Ross then blazed over and on the hour the Inveraray keeper produced another series of stops when he got his stick to an Inglis drive, then turned a Ross shot round his left-hand post for a corner.
Against the run of play, Inveraray came closest to snatching an opening goal in the 75th minute when Gary MacPherson’s shot was touched on to the crossbar by Andrew Borthwick.
Three minutes later the deadlock was broken when Ronald Ross gained a yard of space and struck a shot which entered the Inveraray net, hit the back stanchion, and came back into play. After a debate, referee Mitchell rightly awarded the goal.
The home side survived a penalty claim when the ball was caught under feet but it was eventually smuggled away and in the 85th minute their keeper made the save of the match to deny Inglis when his net-bound lobbed shot was touched away by MacPherson.
Ahead of five minutes of added time, Ross lashed home Kingussie’s second to ensure that the league points travelled north but Inveraray will look back on the opening 45 minutes when they did more than enough to win the tie - other than score.
