HLI Chronicle 1907 - The Royal Highland Fusiliers

HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY CHRONICLE.
little time, and a good deal more football on the
part of the players, before it has quite recovered.
At 2.30 tne teams lined up as follows :­
H.L.I.-Rae (goal); Logan and Reilly
(backs); Collins, Roberts, and Johnstone
(half-backs) ; Kirkland, BaiUie, Blaikie,
M'Donald:and Lambert (forwards). RG.A.­
Robertson .(goal); Whitely and Montgomery
(backs) ; Hatton, Hunt, and Paley (halfbacks);
Bright, Booth, Hanna, 'Brogan, and
Kinnelly (forwards).
Hanna having won the toss, the RG.A.
elected to play with the wind in their favour,
and, in response to the referee's whistle,
Blaikie set the ball in motion. Baillie, securing
the ball, at once made for the Gunners' goal
at a rapid pace, but, being menaced by Hunt,
he tipped the ball to Kirkland, who, in turn,
outwitted Whitely nicely, and centred.
Baillie, securing the leather once more, made
no mistake in finding a resting-place for it in
the net, amidst great cheering, about three
minutes from the start.
. This early reverse had the effect of rousing
all the energy the gunners possessed, and play
for the next half-hour or so was very fast, the
H.L.I. doing all the pressing. Time and again
the visitors broke away, but never with any
serious result. The defence of the home team
was all there, and'wanted a lot .of beating.
The half-backs also played an exceptionally
good game, especially Roberts, who has never
shown such fine form as he did at Powderhall
on Friday, while the combination and speed of
the forward line was a standing menace to the
defence of the Gunners, whose custodian had
all his work cut out to prevent rapid scoring.
Messrs. Montgomery, Paley, and Hunt,
however, by some really clever manreuvring,
managed to clear and take the ball to the
vicinity. of the home team's goal; but Logan
returned it, and. Blaikie made a brilliant run
up the field again and passed to Baillie, who
beat Whitely, and sent the leather crashing
into the. net for the second time, about five
minutes from the half-time whistle. Nothing
further of note happened before half-time,
when the score stood-H.L.I., 2; RG.A., O.
. On resuming play,. Hanna kicked off, but
Blaikie, securing the ball, rushed the position,
beating the whole defence, and scored a third
goal a few seconds from resuming play. From
this on the game seemed to flag somewhat.
It was perfectly clear to everybody that there
was only one team in it, and tha.t was the
" Jocks."
The RG.A. were "cooked," and they
showed it at every turn, indulging in that
which even their most enthusiastic supporters,
by their longest stretch of imagination, could
not call the essence of football.
The H.L.1. kept their heads throughout, and
Blaikie piled on three more goals in about as
many minutes. The goalkeeper fouling Blaikie
within a few yards of the goal, the referee
awarded the H.L.I. a penalty, from which
CoUins practically finished the game by
bringing the score up to 7 goals.
Result-H.L.I., 7 goals; RG.A., nil.
INVERNESS THISTLE VERSUS 2ND H.L.I.
Our first appearance before the football
public of Inverness was made on Saturday,
the 24th November, when we faced the Thistle
-the premier team of the north-in a friendly
match. Unfortunately, we were unable to
turn out in full strength, Doherty taking the
place of Blaikie in centre.
TEAMS.-H.L.I.-Rae (goal); Logan and
Reilly (backs); Roberts, Neil, and Johnston
(half-backs); Lambert, M'Donald, Doherty,
BaiIlie, and Kirkland (forwards). THISTLE­
M'Nair (goal); Smith and Wilson (backs);
Fraser, Watt, and Munro (half-backs);
M'Donald, Watson, Vinson, Hossack. and
Urquhart (forwards).
. There was a large attendance of people to
witness this, our first match. The game was
somewhat marred by a strong wind that came
down the field. Doherty kicked off for· the
soldiers with the wind at his back, and so
strong was the wind that our opponents
scarcely ever crossed the half-way mark during
the first half. The H.L.I. opened well, and for
the first twenty minutes pressed hard; this
forced the Thistle to assume the defensive,
and so sound was their defence that, despite
the repeated attacks, we were unaole to score.
At last, however, our chance came. Baillie,
who had been showing splendid form, all along,
eluded Smith and Wilson, and sent in a nice
low, swift shot that completely baffled M'Nair.
From the kick-off that resulted, the. Thistle
managed for the first time ti) invade our
territory, and Vinson looked dangerous, but
N eil robbed him of the leather, and sent it
back towards the H.L.I. forward line agli,in.
The Thistle team were playing a fine ga.me,
and time and again they were called on to
defend some very· vigorous· attacks; their
defence, however, was sound, and t~e custodian
seemed to be all there. From a miskick by