Schools football: Heriot’s not just a rugby stronghold these days

Newbattle High School beat George Heriot’s 3-1 in the Senior Cup final at the Lothian Schools Football Association Cup Finals held at Spartans Community Academy Stadium in Edinburgh.

In the under-16 final, the honours went to Queensferry High School after a nail-biting penalty shoot-out against Broughton High School.

Liam Ure notched a double for Queensferry and David Scobie and Paul Dickson scored for Broughton to put the score at 2-2 in normal time. Queensferry then won 5-4 on penalties.

For Newbattle and Heriot’s it was a first appearance in the Senior final. Nick Pearson scored the goal for Heriot’s while Barry King, Chris Kirkwood and captain Liam Fellenger found the net for the Easthouses school.

Liam is the son of former Hibs’ favourite David Fellenger. And clearly Newbattle is a multi-talented sports school. Another member of the winning football team, Paul Taylor, is also in the Scotland youth hockey squad, while Ellen Kristoffersen was a silver medalist in the high jump at the Sainsbury’s UK School Games in London.

“Heriot’s is traditionally a rugby school, but they have entered teams in the league and cup for a few years now,” said Peter Clark. From the Lothian Schools Football Association.

“It is great for those kids who are not rugby players. I encountered a similar situation when I went to work at Royal High School in 1982.

“I argued the case that rather than drawing players away from rugby, we would be getting more kids active and out of their beds on a Saturday morning.”

FINALISTS’ SQUADS

Broughton HS: Ryan Forsyth, Lewis Norris, Connal Tolmie, Duncan Player, Paul Dickson, Mason Stade, David Scobie, Lee Horribine, Kris Buchanan, Azad Okan, Blair Atkinson, Fraser Eddington, Daniel McIvor, Scott Ewan, Brendan Muir, Aaron Cook, Liam Stewart, Ryan Lynch, Lee Hunter.

Queensferry HS: Robbie Cuthill, James Mabon, Ryan Travis, Brad Campsie, John Paul Dickson, Ryan Mayer, Sam Shaw, Ryan Beveridge, Liam Ure, Rory Crawford, Clayton Crowther, Calum Bowden, Cameron Kerr, Adam Morrison, Jordan Turner, Andrew Henry.

Newbattle HS: Paul Taylor, TJ Dickson, Rory McIver, Chris Duncan, Allan Hay, Alastair Elliot, Josh Chisholm, Chris Kirkwood, Thomas Thomson, Barry King, Neil McKinnon, Craig Heeps, Liam Fellenger, Duncan Wilson,

George Heriot’s: David Nicol, David Smith, Will Reid, Thomas Kidd, Jonny Adie, Ben Black, Michael Sime, Lewis Cockburn, Jordan Law, Nick Pearson, Alex Wyper, Joe Greig, Scott Hamilton, Matt Underhill, Euan Lannon, Max Todd, Alex North, Fergus Wright, John Pearson.