Braidhurst Under 14s won the Lanarkshire Cup for the second year in a row thanks to a five-star performance against Lanark Grammar at Beltane Park, home of Wishaw Juniors. The holders controlled the match throughout, with each player putting in a superb and determined performance. The Under 14s made a promising start to the match, passing at a high tempo and looking dangerous going forward. Their reward soon followed as Kai Kirkpatrick broke the deadlock – a powerful long-range effort was fumbled by the goalkeeper and into the net. Lanark could have equalised shortly after but were denied thanks to a good save from Matthew Connelly. That missed chance was punished by Dylan Kerr who doubled his side’s lead, heading home from a Cameron Williamson long throw. On the stroke of half-time, Dylan turned provider as his corner-kick was met by Kai who headed into the roof of the net for his second of the match. Just as they did in the first half, Braidhurst made a great start to the second half and within seconds they should have found themselves further in front. A fantastic through ball from Dylan found Kyle Laikowski who unfortunately fired wide. A fourth goal did arrive courtesy of Dylan as he found space in the box to fire past the goalkeeper at his near post. The goal of the match was saved until the end, as Darrell Love skipped past three players before firing in a low shot that left the goalkeeper helpless and gave his side a resounding 5-0 victory. Mr O’Toole and Mr Clarke were absolutely delighted with the performance and result, but in particular the fantastic attitude shown by the players. The soon to be Under 15s can now look forward to next season, hoping to retain their title for a third consecutive season whilst making further progress in the Scottish Cup.

Line Up:

Matthew Connelly; Cameron Williamson (Captain), Steven Rodger, Ross Brownlie (Sub: David Cleland), Kai Kirkpatrick; Kyle Laikowski, Dylan Kerr, Robbie Brown, Grant Mudd (Sub: Jamie Hamilton); Dylan Campbell (Sub: Matthew Barclay), Darrell Love (Sub: Craig Cardno).

MOTM:

Dylan Kerr