The A9 in Scotland just seems to go on and on. Luckily, I was only going as far as Inverness to see Clachnacuddin play Kilwinning in the Scottish F.A. Cup, first round. Kilwinning were making a four hundred mile, near eight hour, round trip to play their opponents who play in one level of football above them.
Clachnacuddin’s ground is in a working class area, surrounded by housing, just off the city centre. Unlike their nearby neighbours, Inverness Caledonian Thistle’s very modern stadium on the banks of the Moray Forth. It was 16 degrees as I entered the stadium with a grey overcast sky and a forecast that said 90 per cent chance of rain.
The thick grass pitch slopes end to end and is surrounded mainly by a block built wall. There is good concrete tiered covered standing behind one goal , snack bar, toilets, turnstiles, shop, and a boardroom behind the other. A large area of tiered covered seating on one side, which is charged at £2 extra. Flat standing behind the other goal and side complete the ground.
Clachnacuddin is Gaelic for “The Stone of the Tubs,” a landmark in Inverness. Women would rest their washing tubs on the stone after cleaning their clothes in the nearby River Ness.
Inverness Clachnacuddin were formed in 1885 after local rivals, Inverness Caledonian, and Inverness Thistle.
The club experienced most of their success in their early years, winning 15 of their 18 league championships before the Second World War. Their post-war team of 1947/48 season won everything they entered.
Grant Street Park has been their home from their beginning, but it was nearly lost in 1990 when liquidation of the club was averted at the eleventh hour. Locals managed to save the club. Their successes have been thinly spread since then, but they did win the League in 2004 and the League Cup in 2013.
Kilwinning Rangers started out fourteen years later than Clachnacuddin in 1899. They played junior football in Ayreshire, winning national glory in 1908, winning the Scottish Junior Cup.
Over the years, they played mainly in Ayrshire and Leagues in the west of Scotland and, with a major re-organisation of Scottish football in 2020, were founder members of the West of Scotland League Premier Division. This meant a leap out of junior football after over one hundred years. Although they were relegated to Division One in 2023, they bounced back two years later. They are newcomers to the Scottish Cup competing in it for the first time in 2022.
Inverness Clachnacuddin FC 2 v Kilwinning Rangers FC 1
Saturday 27th September 2025, 15.00 pm kickoff. Men’s Scottish Cup, first round.
Grant Street, Wyvis Place Inverness, IV3 6DR
Liilwhites v The Buffs.
5th in the Highland League v 13th in the West of Scotland League.
Clachnacuddin, white shirts with black shorts, goalkeeper in all grey
Killwinning, blue and white hoops shirts, blue shorts, blue and white hooped socks. goalkeeper in all luminous lime yellow.
Good start by Killwinning who put balls behind the home sides’ defensive line and ran on to be able to cross but no one was able to connect. They were also playing some neat triangles that Clachnacuddin could not deal with. Kilwinning, playing down the hill, seemed to want it more and kept up the pressure, clipping the bar with a curling shot on 37 minutes. The half ended with the away team having had the best of the game, which was now being played in constant rain after earlier drizzle.
At half time, the raffle winner was announced, number 2841, I had 2842, yet again a near miss.
Clachnacuddin became more engaged with the start of the second half and, going forward, drew a good save to his right from Glen Cameron in the Kilwinning goal to keep it level.
Kilwinning’s efforts were rewarded after 26 minutes when a hard hit cross from the left was met by, they influential, Murray MacKintosh who volleyed it to the right of the despairing keeper.
The home side responded within 4 minutes with a shot from the edge of the box that was paried out to the goalkeepers left. They kept up their renewed attacking and were rewarded with eleven minutes to go when fom a corner on the right James Anderson headed in the equaliser when he was not challenged in the centre of the goal.
A few minutes later, the Lilywhites had turned it round when Troy Cooper collected a through ball, beat the left sided defender, and buried it into the right corner of the net underneath the outstretched keeper.
So, having been the poorer side Clachnacuddin now found themselves in front and held out for the win despite 10 Kilwinning players, including the goalkeeper, attacking a corner in the dying minutes.
The game had a high level of skill and commitment, and if Kilwinning are in the middle of the West of Scotland League, then there must be some very good teams above them. They must have felt very deflated on they’re 200 mile coach journey back home
No chips, so in Scotland and Scotch pie and Bovril.
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