Amateur football side 'keeping heads held high' following 51-0 defeat

An amateur football side insist they are “keeping their heads held high” despite a mammoth 51-0 defeat at the weekend.

St Machar Thistle from Aberdeen travelled to Stonehaven to take on AC Mill Inn Academy in the first round of the Scottish Amateur Cup on Saturday.

Thistle were three men down before kick-off when only ten players showed up and two trialists were denied permission to take part, meaning they had to start with eight men.

That also meant they were without a goalkeeper for the game meaning captain Eoin Devlin, who was making his return from a broken ankle, had to swap his usual midfield position to play between the sticks.

The bad luck kept coming when they were reduced to just seven men during the game and found themselves 25-0 down by half-time.

Another 26 goals were conceded in the second as AC Mill refused to take their foot of the pedal as they ran out 51-0 winners.

Following the game Machar Thistle, who were formed only two months ago, took to social media to praise their opponents, who also defeated them 19-0 the previous weekend.

A post on Facebook said: “Ach. Hard one to take, boys tried their hardest playing an 8 (down to 7) vs 11 and can’t fault their efforts.

“Mill Academy deserve all the flowers, blew us away with a first class attacking performance, fair play to all involved for the home side, taught us lesson after lesson and we wish them the very best for their season and in the next round of the Scottish Cup.

“We keep moving on with our heads held high.

“Mon ih Machar.”