Dun Deagh -Cupa Alba 2009

Photo's used with kind permission of David Young

The Alba cup sometimes gets billed as the"diddy-cup" and doesn't really matter that much,but try telling that to over 6 thousand of the dark blue faithful at 5 o'clock on a wet November Sunday afternoon in Perth! Players and fans alike were ecstatic, after an emotionally draining afternoon that had seen most in the depths of despair as the half time whistle blew and mightily relieved to be only 2 goals behind an ICT side that had outplayed and outclassed us in all departments.It could so easily have been so much worse but for MOTM Jim Lauchlin taking one for the team with a"right sair clatter" into the McDiarmid goalpost..............

Had it been a boxing match the ref would probably have stopped it at that point.

After the break however, what a transformation! With the Dee pushing forward from the whistle and forcing ICT on to the back foot, Ritchie Hart (sponsored by the HDB's) hit a great ball into the box and originally i thought Sean Higgins had pulled back the early goal (at which point i officially forgave him for that late killer goal in Dingwall last season!!) but as it turned out it was a Bulvitas bullet header,(that'll teach him to give the finger to the lips to Dee fans after his second for ICT ) followed shortly after by Gary Harkins eqauliser it was truly "Game on".

As the game wore on the heavy pitch started to take it's toll and Ross Tokely was seriously toiling against the speed of Sparky,who we all expected to knock in the goal to put us in the lead when he was through 1 on 1 with Ryan Esson but knocked the ball just a bit far to control but it only delayed the celebrations when Stewart Forsyth's wee boy Craig, hit a superb winner to send 3 of the four stands at McDiarmid park into ecstasy..................

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Ritchie and Sean show their Deelite and Rab has a grin that will take a while to shift,why the picture of Marten Maxwell?well, just because I can! :-)

The Highland Dark Blues were,as ever,well represented with a full bus supplemented by cars from Moray and of course the Cumbernauld highlanders! Swayndo's dodgy Movember tache deserves a mention along with young Boabs dubious headwear! and Ching's diddy cup ( i was kinda nervous when his old man said he was taking an inflatible with him!)

 

Big thanks to Derek for driving and Mike for all his organising of tickets and booking restaurant etc,excellant day oot enjoyed by all, despite John getting his white pudding pinched in Pitlochry by a disgruntled ICT wifey

Alanmac