CRAIGMOUNT AT THE DOUBLE

THE foul weather over the weekend caused the cancellation of many fixtures in schools and youth club football, but Craigmount High School beat both the freezing cold wind and rain to produce a great second half performance as they delivered a crushing 4-1 knockout blow to the visiting St David's Dalkeith High School side in their Scottish Schools Under-14 Shield clash.

The tie was switched from the Gyle, where all the pitches were unplayable to the new tight football pitch within the school playing fields.

Playing with the wind in their favour, Craigmount went in to an early 1-0 lead when Craig Sinclair was perfectly placed at the back post to knock the ball over the St David's goal-line from a great free-kick from the right wing. The home side almost got another goal immediately after, but Saints went on the hunt for an equaliser and Joseph Catterson went close to opening their account.

However, Craigmount it was that raced in to a 2-0 lead when a shot from Kerr Young swerved past Saints keeper, Asher Tufail. Trailing by two goals at the start of the second period, the visitors from Dalkeith looked to have the opportunity to mount a fightback, aided by the fierce wind in their favour. Aiden Duncan fired a wonderful effort just wide of the Craigmount goal then Kieron McGachie saw a tremendous swerving free-kick go skimming past the post.

Saints were desperately unlucky when a thundering wind-assisted shot from Catterson smashed back in to play off the Craigmount crossbar, but they duly got the goal they deserved at that stage when Kenny Johnstone found the back of the net following this bout of sustained pressure on the Craigmount goal.

That goal proved to be the turning point in the game and it was the home side that lifted themselves and that started to play their passing game, keeping the ball on the ground and they restored their two-goal advantage with a cracking goal from Craig Sinclair, who showed gReat skill to take the ball away from Saints keeper then keep his composure in the crowded goalmouth to steer his shot low in to the empty net to make it 3-1.

The visiting side put a lot of effort in to their bid to reduce the deficit but it was the Craigmount contingent who were celebrating again with possibly the best goal of the game. After another excellent passing move up the right, Jordan Lock broke clear and he lashed a wonderful finishing shot high in to the St David's net to make the final scoreline 4-1 for Craigmount.

All things considered, this was a super wee game of football played in an excelellent manner by all the players with lots of positive encouragement from both touchlines. All credit too, to Bob Laurie, from Craigmount for a very fair and competent display of refereeing in the freezing cold weather.

*On the new synthetic surface at Craigmount, the school's Seniors beat Peebles High School 5-1 with goals from Chris Sellar (4) and another from James Linn. Ian Campbell was on target for the school from the lovely Borders town of Peebles.

*If any other schools in the Lothian region are due to play important Scottish School FA Shield ties, contact Ian Mackay on mackayian@blueyonder.co.uk and he will do his best to attend the game, particularly if they are due to take place in weekday afternoons.