Moray welfare football newcomers Lossie United Amateurs score six while Cullen 17-year-old strikes first goal and Craigellachie player-boss seals victory
Four Moray welfare teams made cup progress on Tuesday night.
The preliminary round of the WJ Tewnion Memorial Trophy saw Cullen continue their good form at home to Keith visitors Ugie.
Cullen found the opener on 23 minutes with 17-year-old midfielder Lewis Murray pouncing on a slack clearance to grab his first welfare goal.
Ugie enjoyed a spell of pressure but rarely tested young Charlie McKay in the Cullen goal.
In the second half the home side caused Ugie all sorts of problems with a high press and some crisp passing football.
Greg Hay nicked possession and lobbed home Cullen’s second goal on the hour.
Minutes later Cullen found a third, with Iain Mair's free kick from 25 yards dipping over the wall and into the bottom corner to seal a quarter-finals tie at home to Portsoy.
Aberlour Villa made it seven wins out of seven, staving off a late RAF Lossiemouth comeback to clinch a home semi-final against Craigellachie.
Jay Morrison opened his account for the season putting the Villa 1-0 up after seven minutes.
Marcus Murray then made it six goals for the season with a quickfire double to make it 3-0 at the break.
Home keeper Stevie Reid made a good save at the start of the second half while Morrison scuffed an opportunity to net his second for Aberlour.
After five games without conceding a single goal, Villa let in two in quick succession to bring the tie back to life.
Leading Moray welfare goalscorers in all competitions.
-6 Gary Burr (Hopeman), Marcus Murray (Aberlour Villa)
-5 Barry Grant (Aberlour), Warren Orford (Fochabers)
-4 Craig Watt, Gary Morrison, Korey Pring (all Aberlour), Aaron O’Hara (Buckie Rovers), Logan Macaulay Mill (Cullen), Kyle Hay (Lossie Utd)
Josh Kirby scored both, sliding home a shot on 80 minutes then bringing the score back to 3-2 seven minutes later after Reid misread a cross ball.
It took a last minute goal from ex-Highland League hitman Kris Duncan to seal Villa’s victory, firing home from the edge of the box.
League new boys Lossie United Amateurs ended a four-game losing streak in style with a 6-1 drubbing of Lhanbryde. A Kyle Hay hat-trick and further efforts by Liam Petrie, Callum Stuart and Ewan Hills did the business for the coast team, with Ryan Dalgarno replying for the visitors.
The quarter-final draw was made before one club pulled out shortly before the start of the campaign, so Lossie United receive a bye to the semis.
Fochabers defeated Hopeman for the second time this term to make it six wins out of six in all competitions.
Jordan Clark’s double and one each for Stuart Harrold and Gary Burchell earned a 4-1 win for the home side, to counter Harry Doble’s first goal for Hopeman.
There was one league match with Craigellachie winning 3-0 at home to Portsoy, who are the only club yet to record a victory.
Craig scored with their first chance when player manager Mark Thomson’s pass out wide found Tom Henderson and his cross was converted by Colin Coutts.
Henderson then had a chance of his own but was denied by the Portsoy keeper on a one-on-one situation.
Gavin Cameron fired wide for the home team, who had to settle for a single goal advantage at the break.
Portsoy almost levelled when the home keeper was caught out by a bad bounce but recovered to stop the ball right on his line.
‘Soy then failed to convert from an indirect free kick inside the box, but their spell of pressure came to nothing and Craigellachie clinched victory with two more strikes.
Stuart Thomson converted a long throw to the back post on the hour, and ten minutes later Leo Ford’s great ball into the danger zone picked out player boss Mark Thomson for a tap-in to complete the scoring.
