AMATEUR FOOTBALL

MERPRO MANUFACTURE WIN BY SMALLEST MARGIN

The Tay Valley Shield went into Merpro’s trophy cabinet but it was only by the skin of their teeth with AHSFP making them fight to the end, writes our Amateur correspondent.

The Montrose men were the form team against AHSFP when the sides stepped on to Ogilvy Park on

Saturday but the final could have gone either way.

In the end a solitary goal from veteran Graeme Allan, positioned up front as a stop gap, decided the pathway of the silverware – and to the Montrose side it went. While the final had an Angus derby dimension to it the big game of the day had to be the battle of the ”Hills” at Monifieth High School.

Both Barnhill and Menzieshill were putting their 100% Premier records on the line and it was the latter and champions who came out on top by 3-1.

The scheme side were 2-0 up after half an hour but a mix up in yellow cards resulted in them being reduced to 10 men which might have been costly.

After that controversy the score remained static until the last two minutes when Gary Middleton pulled one back for the Barn and Liam Egan got the winners’ third.

Earlier, a Dom Blair effort and an own goal gave the victors what proved in the end to be a sufficient lead for the three points.

Most likely challenger to the front two is Fintry who were faced with the difficult task of overcoming Lochee United.

Their 3-1 victory was achieved by an Alex Gibb brace and an unstoppable

Scott Ritchie free-kick. Broughty United have lost a bit of early season momentum in the league recently but that was brushed aside again with a 7-2 win over Tayside Fire Brigade.

A Ranald Bowie hat-trick and braces from Nik Mann and Stephen Kerr confirmed the Ferrymen are back in business.

There were also a couple of crucial matches in the lower part of the league. Most significant was Montrose’s 1-0 victory over Morgan Academy FPS which elevates the Angus men above the school side. Owen Honeyman got the goal with the wind on the stroke of half-time, with the FPS unable to utilise the elements to their advantage in the second half.

Even though it is early days, also having similar thoughts to the FPS that a relegation battle is on the horizon are Carnoustie Panmure YM who suffered a 5-2 defeat at the hands of Shotz.

The Arbroath side’s scorers were John Dye, Kyle Robb, Ross Findlay, Ian Quinn and Ryan Robb.

In Division 1 Invergowrie earned a hard fought 1-0 victory at Wellbank thanks to a close-in effort from Gerald Nyakura eight minutes from time.