Niccy S3 boys march into North Final

To a man, the S3 side, coached by Angus Mackay and Willie Macaulay were immense. Taking the ball under pressure, in tight situations, refusing to deviate from their game plan which was to pass the ball on the ground, move the ball quickly and play the beautiful game in a beuatoful manner.

This Inverurie side were no mugs, far from it. They were a thoroughly decent side but one which was made to look poor at times by the blur of yellow shirts which swarmed over the visitors at will.

Winners of the North of Scotland Cup last year as S2 pupils, this crop of kids look to be determined to hold on the tropy at S3 level, and if they play even to 75 per cent of the levels they touched in this semi-final stroll then the trophy will be staying on the Hebridean side of the Minch.

Matthew Wright up top scored two phenomenal goals which wouldn’t look out of place on Denis Bergkamp’s highlight reel. The second of which saw him pull Samuel Mackay’s free kick out of the air on his toe before flicking the ball in the air over his marker.

The ball still hadn’t touched the turf since Mackay arced it into the box when Wright muscles round the defender where he volleys the ball past the stunned keeper via the underside of the crossbar.

Four touches from near the half-way line to the back of the net prompting the visiting coaches to offer their own applause at the quality on display.

Wright had fired the Nicolson 3-0 up five minutes earlier with another classy strike to all but send a foot and half of the school into the North of Scotland Cup final.

The first-half had begun in a fairly cagey manner and while the Niccy had most of the ball they weren’t fashioning any clear cut chances. A corner count of 5-0 showed their dominance.

The midfield three of Mackay, Ross Maciver and Mikey Jones were dominating the game while out wide Stevie was proving a handful.

Two minutes before half-time the Nicolson broke the deadlock when Wright’s corner was flicked on by Calum Maclennan and turned in at the back stick by Mackay.

It was 2-0 just 60-seconds later when Mackay’s free kick into the mixer was not cleared and Ross Maciver needed no second invitation to spin and send the ball across goal and arrowing inside the far post.