PENTLAND Panthers turned on a great display to beat Peebles Thistle 8-0 to lift the under-14 Belmont Vauxhall Cup at the Saughton Enclosure.
The Pentland outfit were far too good for the team from the Borders but, despite taking such a beating, the standard of sportsmanship on the field was first class.
Pentland Panthers marked this latest success with several cracking goals.
Euan
Moffat opened the scoring with a great header from a right-wing cross and that superb strike opened the floodgates.
The brave and gallant young side in the Peebles Thistle colours did everything possible to stem the flow of goals, without any success. But, to their great credit, Thistle were good ambassadors for their club in terms of commitment and good behaviour.
No-one can criticise kids for trying their best and the Peebles boys certainly did that. They were up against a bigger, more athletic and skilful outfit in Pentland Panthers, who appear to have made very good progress this season in the Eastern Region Youth FA.
Others to get on the scoresheet in the 8-0 win included Iain Mortimer, Stuart Shand (2), Martin Smith, Kriss Hemmingway, Craig Dunlop and Chris Threlfall.
Pentland Panthers: Lloyd Hall, Iain Mortimer, Colin Campbell, Jason Hunter, Stuart Shand, Ross Chinnery, Ross Irvine, Sam Campbell, Martin Smith, Richard Fraser, Euan Moffat, Kriss Hemmingway, Ross Peacock, Craig Dunlop, Chris Threlfall, Andrew Bright, Stuart Steel.
Peebles Thistle: Alastair McLennan, Craig Murdoch, Greg McConnell, Michael Pringle, Warwick Brown, Josh McLeod, Rhys Evans, Stuart McKemmie, Chris Shortreed, Joe Davies, Moray McLeod, Ruaridh Hayes, Stephen Betram, Ruaraidh Macnaughton, Barry Duncan, Neils Davidson.
The final was, unfortunately, marred by the behaviour of a huge number of young people milling about who appeared to have no interest whatsoever in the game taking place.
Also, two boys on bikes were cycling on the athletics track surrounding the pitch and in addition, to complete the scene, three people were in the stadium with dogs!
The number of impromptu games going on around the arena was utter nonsense and the referee had to halt the game to order away boys playing behind the goals.
