The village of Kiltarlity celebrated into the small hours after the local team triumphed in the final of the Co-operative MacTavish Cup.
In a real nail-biter against local rivals Glenurquhart, Lovat came from behind to force the match into extra time. After the game finished 1-1, they were then convincing 3-1 penalty shoot-out winners.
Lovat keeper Stuart MacDonald became a legend after saving three Glenurquhart spot-hits but paid tribute to his team-mates who never gave up hope despite being under the cosh for most of the first half.
"In all honesty I would rather face a penalty strike than a ball from open play. It feels fantastic and I am proud of the boys," he said.
For Glenurquhart, man-of-the-match defender Lewis MacLennan was generous in his praise for Lovat, saying: "We had our chances in the first 45 and then they were stronger with the wind in the second half."
Glenurquhart looked on course for their first MacTavish Cup triumph when they took the lead in the 19th minute, with Fraser Heath picking his spot from 20 yards.
Lovat looked to be overawed and Glenurquhart were the more composed side. The Glen's international full-back John Barr kept close tabs on Lovat danger man Greg Matheson, while Andy Corrigan afforded little room to Lovat's other striker, Kevin Bartlett.
Lovat were looking out for a hero and they found one in the 60th minute in the diminutive shape of substitute Graeme MacMillan, who slotted home an almost identical finish to Heath's earlier strike.
Lovat had chances to seal the match before extra time but were foiled by wasteful finishing and a virtuoso performance in goal by Glenurquhart captain Stuart MacKintosh.
A net-bound Owen Ferguson drive was nonchalantly swatted aside by MacKintosh early in the second period of extra time and minutes later Duncan Davidson watched in disbelief as his 30-yard strike was given the same treatment.
With defences on top it was no surprise the teams could only be separated by a penalty shoot-out.
Matheson confidently converted Lovat's first, and then it was keeper against keeper, with MacKintosh hitting a perfect spot-hit only for his opposite number to defy him with an instinctive save.
A miss by Owen Ferguson gave the Glen some hope at 3–1 but MacDonald broke their hearts with a match-winning save from Lewis MacLennan.
Lovat captain Calum Cruden held the famous rosebowl aloft to spark off a long night of celebration in a village which last saw the trophy in 1953.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article