Deveronvale 1 Keith 2: Cammy Keith scores 350th competitive goal as Maroons win with last touch
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KEITH were 2-1 winners at Princess Royal Park against Deveronvale on Saturday in a match filled with drama and landmarks.
It wasn’t the most enthralling of encounters, but you couldn’t really write the script, writes Charlie Simpson.
It was the 150th Highland League encounter between the sides – stretching back to September 1938 – and it was the stage for Cammy Keith’s 350th competitive goal, while also providing a last-gasp winner for the Maroons.
Unfortunately, with Princess Royal Park being spectatorless, so few people were in attendance to witness the drama and history unfold.
The Banffers, under the interim leadership of Craig Stewart, were the better team in the first half, forcing Keith left-back Andy Smith into a goal-line clearance, and also striking the face of the crossbar with an in-swinging free kick.
However, there was jubilation in the visiting ranks when skipper and all-time top scorer Cammy Keith jinked and weaved into the right hand side of the penalty area, and – with great aplomb – sent the ball nestling into the old onion bag for that magical 350th goal.
Time on the clock? 53 minutes – speak about a golden goal.
Eighteen minutes from the end, the legendary number nine was substituted for Scott Gray, and got a standing ovation from the small Keith contingent in the stand.
‘Vale pushed forward looking for a leveller and with eight minutes remaining, the far side assistant referee spotted the ball hitting Andy Smith on the chest, squirming up and hitting his arm and awarded a penalty.
Up stepped Robert Scott to make no mistake with the award.
A share of the spoils was better than nothing at all for both sides, but then there scenes of delirium for those of a Maroon persuasion were sparked when Michael Selfridge rammed the ball over the line amidst a crowded penalty. That proved to be the very last kick of the game as the referee blew his peeper right away.
An ebullient Keith contingent celebrated a third successive victory, whilst the beaten Banffers trooped wearily off with hanging heads, sadly thinking of what might have been.
