Edinburgh Uni bring Shield 'back where it belongs'

Edinburgh UNIVERSITY were presented with the historic Queen's Park Shield as champions of the inter-Scottish Universities League after their 2-0 victory against Glasgow University at Peffermill.

The magnificent trophy was gifted by Queen's Park Football Club to the Scottish Amateur Football Association in 1921 for annual competition between the Scottish Universities and has been competed for since that date. In recent years the competition has been dominated by Heriot-Watt University (five wins) and Stirling University (four) with Edinburgh being crowned as winners this year for the first occasion since season 2000-2001.

Edinburgh's delighted captain Alasdair MacKinnon said: "We have been building up to this achievement for several years and this reward is long overdue. The winning of the Queen's Park Shield is in no small way due to our head coach Douglas Samuel who has waited patiently over the years to lead Edinburgh University to this. We have played the way he wants us to play and it's a great start to what we hope will be an even better season.

"On a personal note it's great to have won the same trophy as my dad, Stewart, did at Edinburgh University in the 1970s - it's back where it belongs."

Head coach Samuel added: "After a few near misses in the eight seasons I have been with the club it's a wonderful feeling to get our hands on the trophy. It's particularly pleasing for three of our players who graduate in the summer, Alasdair MacKinnon, Peder Beck-Friis and Gordon Milne.

"My hope is that, for our younger players who have won this early in their careers, they will find the hunger, the desire and the ambition to go on and repeat this achievement.

"On a personal note it is the final piece in the jigsaw and we can now go to the semi-final of the British Universities Championship against Bournemouth University next week with belief that we can achieve something even more special."