It's a double congratulations to manager Gavin Skelton today. Yesterday he missed the semi final against Gretna to be with his wife as his son, Henry, was born. Mum and baby are doing well and we congratulate the whole family on their new addition. Today his young charges served him magnificently to overcome the much fancied South Shields side in the final of the Raydale Cup. It was a terrific pefromance by a side whose average age was in teenage years by the time it finished and up against a side including former Sunderland midfielder Julio Arca who scored twice to knock Ayr United out yesterday.

There were 10 changes to the side that played yesterday with only Aidan Smith starting both matches and he was withdrawn at half time in both. It was a whirlwind start though and we could have had the lead even before Kyle Jacobs header from a Jack Brannan cross slipped beyond the grasp of the South Shields keeper and into the corner of the net on 7 minutes. Thirty seconds later and it was 2-0 as Millar superbly nutmegged an opponent and Aidan Smith played a perfect through ball behind the defence for Lyndon Dykes to run clear. The big striker showed composure beyond his years to round the goalkeeper and sweep the ball into the empty net.

The English side almost pulled a goal back following a goalmouth scramble shortly afterwards but Scott Hooper, captain for the day, was in the right place to block the ball on the line with his chest.

The second half began almost as well as the first had when trialist Scott Brown curled in superbly from 20 yards to make it 3-0. However South Shields did then pull a goal back shortly afterwards when their No 10, who had been outstanding all game, bent a lovely shot into the corner of the net round an unsighted Robbie Thomson. The side got younger and younger as the game wore on with Millar, Thomson and Jacobs all being replaced by teenagers, the latter two with minor injuries, but there was no further scoring and it was left to Scott Hooper to cap an excellent week for the manager by lifting the cup.

Earlier in the day, Ayr United clinched 3rd spot by defeating the hosts 8-0 in the 3rd place match.

Click here for our gallery of images from the game.

Team:
1 R Thomson (J Leighfield 75), 2 J Brannan (R Murray 59), 3 R Evans, 4 K Jacobs (O Bell 59), 5 D Brownlie, 6 S Hooper, 7 Trialist (S Brown), 8 M Millar (R Miller 76), 9 A Smith (C Murray 45), 10 L Dykes, 11 O Moxon (R Nelson 74)