Despite the disappointment of defeat, though, the Bute players could not be faulted for their effort after making the lengthy journey north and nearly being forced to start the match with almost no warm-up time.
The signs that it might turn out
to be a trying day for the islanders began to show long before they reached the ground - the team bus was crossing Rannoch Moor when it was realised that not enough strips had been packed for the whole squad, following the team's appearance at the Marine Harvest Premier Sixes seven days earlier.
Fortunately, arrangements were made to borrow a spare set of Fort William strips, though Bute's trials continued on arrival at Kiltarlity when the referee tried to insist on starting the match at 1pm - only a few minutes after the team's arrival!
When the game did get under way, the opening stages were fairly even, though Bute slowly began to gain the upper hand, only to be undone by the same old story - a failure to get their shots on target.
Ali Carmichael, Robert Walker and Hector Whitelaw all tried their luck in the first half, although the best effort of all appeared as if it had indeed given Bute the lead - a shot from out wide which rebounded off the back stanchion of the goal before Hector Whitelaw converted the rebound.
Unfortunately for Bute, the goal was disallowed when the referee decided, after protests from some Lovat spectators, that the ball had hit the outside of the stanchion and therefore had gone out of play before Whitelaw turned it in.
And the feeling grew that it might not be Bute's day when Lovat opened the scoring with a rare attack after half an hour's play, Jamie Matheson meeting a corner with a fine first-time shot which gave keeper Kevin Queen no chance.
Right on half-time the game took another twist against the visitors when David Whitelaw - who had already found himself on the wrong end of several tough challenges from Lovat players - was fouled near the half way line; in the melee which followed, Roberto Zavaroni pushed an opponent to the ground and was promptly shown the red card by referee John MacPhee.
Strangely, however, the extra man seemed to count against Lovat early in the second half: unsure who they were meant to be covering, the home players struggled badly against a Bute team who were able to make much more use of the extra space, with David Whitelaw and John McCallum in particular allowed plenty of space down the flanks.
Carmichael had Bute's best chance during this phase of the game, but after a lung-bursting run he was forced to turn inside his man and was unable to hit the ball as well as he would have liked, and the danger was cleared.
Stevie MacKellar came on in place of Brian Liddell early in the second half and immediately caused Lovat problems with his wound-up-like-a-spring enthusiasm, and Bute really started to put their hosts under the cosh - but instead of pulling themselves level, the visitors found themselves trailing by two when another rare Lovat attack saw Jimmy MacKenzie's shot take a cruel bounce right in front of Queen before deflecting off his shin and into the net.
And though they now enjoyed a two-goal cushion, Lovat were still struggling to get to grips with Bute's forceful approach, and the islanders finally found a way back into the game via the penalty spot, Walker converting to set up a grandstand finish.
Bute were unable to conjure up an equaliser - but it was encouraging to see the team dwelling after the game on a good performance which should contain some positive signs for a few tough fixtures in the coming weeks.
* This Saturday, July 17, Bute return to home soil for a Premier League derby at home to local rivals Kyles Athletic - the two teams' fifth and final meeting of the 2010 campaign.
Throw-up at the Meadows is at 2.30pm and players should meet no later than 1pm - anyone not available is asked to contact Barry Martin ASAP.
