Pure mince as golden oldies kick off
THERE was pure ‘Mince’ on show when a newly established Moray veteran’s league got off to a flying start.
Elgin-based "Real Mince" took on Buckie Over 40s.
A real one for the spectators with end to end football right from the start to the death – no sooner had one team scored than the other reciprocated, with the final score ending up 9-5 for the Elgin side.
A good evenly matched contest throughout played in the best of sporting terms causing no problems for the referee.
Real Mince have not played as an 11-a-side unit for over a year and at times this showed, however there were some good passages of play and the experience and the sharpness of Tony Mone up front made a huge difference. He hit the scoresheet on a few occasions, including a superb drive from outside the box which left the Buckie keeper standing.
Buckie played some very good football from back to front and looked a team who play regularly. They stepped up the pace in the second half, particularly down their left hand side and took the game to Real. Their stand out player, No. 9 John Mellon caused havoc amongst The Mince rearguard and he also bagged a few for himself.
Meanwhile Hopeman-based "Elgin Marbles" hosted Newmill in their first game. The Marbles were without all of their usual defenders and gifted the opposition the first three goals before managing a modest comeback before half-time to leave the score 2-3.
A series of injuries then took their toll and the Newmill team who played an excellent passing game throughout proved too strong for the walking wounded that were the Marbles defence. The Newmill side eventually won 6-3 but it would have been a much higher differential were it not for the quick reactions of Marbles’ keeper Stewart Sutherland.
The league is still open to any other "over 35" teams that wish to join.
Anyone interested should contact Walter Deans at wdeans@ritsonsca.com. Games are played at the pace of one per month so there is plenty of scope to fit other teams in.
