Turiff United capture their first Highland silverware
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Turriff United players and staff celebrate winning the Aberdeenshire Shield. (GM)
TURRIFF United created history last Wednesday when they saw off Aberdeen to claim the Aberdeenshire Shield in a gritty performance at Balmoor Stadium.
The victory saw them claim their first title since joining the Highland League with goals from Mike Ewen and Grant Noble securing the victory for The Haughs side.
Aberdeen had a great spell of pressure right at the start of the game, however, were forced into an early change with Peter Pawlett sustaining an injury. He was replaced by Stephen O’Neil.
The Pittodrie outfit continued to press with Josh Magennis’ driving run switched to Michael Paton, but Turriff keeper Grant Pennet made a fairly comfortable stop.
Michael Ralton then sent a deep searching cross from the right towards the back post, where Mike Ewen was on hand to connect perfectly with a downward header that squeezed into the corner of the net to give Turriff the lead.
That one-goal advantage was almost increased when Noble’s shot was just dragged wide of the target.
In the opening minutes of the second half, a poor pass back from Myles Anderson, allowed Gary Harris to attack the goal and he laid it off to Noble who made no mistake with his strike.
Loose play once again almost cost Aberdeen when Clark Robertson gave away possession just 25 yards from goal and Noble drove into the penalty area, but his shot was beaten away by the keeper, and Ewen’s follow-up was diverted wide.
The Dons almost managed to get a goal back when Shaugnessy won the near-post header from Nicky Low’s free kick, and the ball cracked off the woodwork before falling into the grateful arms of Pennet.
Turriff broke immediately and almost put the Dons out of their misery when Harris played a lovely angled ball into Ewen, whose shot was deflected but ricocheted towards goal. Shaugnessy managed to hurriedly clear the ball which appeared to have crossed the line.
In the final moments, Aberdeen managed to create little and at the final whistle there were huge celebrations from the Turriff fans.
Turriff manager Kris Hunter said: "Words cannot describe how proud I am and Aberdeen were surprised by us.
"Every one of the players stuck to their task and there was no failures in the team They are a credit to themselves and to the club.
"We haven’t been lucky in the competition, we’ve had to do it the hard way and beat strong teams to win it."
