But to call these marked out areas as football pitches is a total misnomer, with a father of an Inch Colts player saying: "I was shocked to see where the games were going to be played. A path runs through both pitches and the playing surface is terrible. What a disgrace!" Inch got off to a good start on this apology of a football pitch with the match refeee also commenting on the state of the ground, but it did not prevent the visiting side going 1-0 up with a well-taken goal from Scott Haliday following a corner on the left from Russel Johnstone. After that setback, the home side dug in and took the game to Inch, with the deserved equaliser coming from Jamie Walsh. This youth game surged up and down the pitch with both sides putting 100 per-cent effort in to the game. North Merchiston went in front for the first time when Phil Burns finished off a surging run up the right wing with a great ball in to the middle of the Inch goalmouth for Paul Douglas to stick it in to the net and put the home side 2-1 up.

The pace of the game never let up and it was North Merchiston that went on to clinch the game with a quite exceptional finish from Chris Moir. With two well behaved sides in opposition, this was a game that improved the image of competitive 11-a-side football in the ERYFA.

And it was the same story in the smaller pitch, with Spartans giving themselves a morale-boost, after two disappointing displays at the start of the season, by beating North Merchiston 3-1. Due to the size of the pitch(?), this was in every respect a close encounter, with lots of good tackling and great attacking play by both these excellent young sides.

There was a lovely atmosphere on both touchlines during this game, with lots of encouragement for the players. That positive attitude helped to make this a cracking game of football. Spartans went ahead with a lovely goal from Jordan Irvine to give this sporting side a 1-0 lead at half-time. The players deserved a beather for the effort they had put in to the game in the first half and the second half was even more enjoyable to watch. Tommy Farrell made it 2-0 early in the second half and Paul Martin gave Spartans a match-winning 3-0 lead with another superb goal.