Parish winners too good for Orkney team

DELTING won the Inter-county Parish Cup last weekend when they travelled down to Orkney and defeated Sandwick

Delting 4, Sandwick 0

After Whalsay’s victory in the competition last year and Delting’s five wins before that, the team from Dounby made it clear that they were determined to be the first Orkney team to win the trophy.

The teams ran out onto the pitch on Saturday afternoon into strong winds and pouring rain. Despite playing into the strong wind it was Delting who adapted better to the conditions and were soon in control. The central midfield trio of Alan and Brian Duncan and Ross Jamieson were key to establishing that control, winning the aerial battle and then bringing the wide men into play early on.

After a couple of near misses, Jamieson eventually broke the deadlock. He picked up a ball from the right, played a neat one-two off Fraser Hall before striking the ball past former Orkney county goalkeeper Erlend Poke.

Delting were getting a lot of space on the left wing and it was from this area that the second goal came after 20 minutes. Peter Peterson beat his man and fired over a cross for Jamieson to add his second with a diving header at the near post.

The experienced Sandwick team, which were beaten 1-0 in this year’s Orkney parish final, rallied and showed that they were not going to lie down. On a couple of occasions Craig Dinwoodie was called on to make a save, on one occasion doing well to tip over a well struck shot from the edge of the box.

The score remained 2-0 for Delting at half-time.

Playing with the strong wind advantage in the second half the Delting team, with former player Ryan Sutherland at left back, continued to dominate.

The game was sealed midway through the half when Jamieson completed his hat-trick with a penalty which struck an upright before creeping over the line.

As the game entered its final 20 minutes, it was clear that Sandwick were running out of ideas, having struggled to break down the Delting defence. It was no surprise when a fourth was added late on. Peterson picked up a Hall knock-on, rounded the goalkeeper and sidefooted the ball into the empty net.

Both sets of players and officials then went back to the nearby hotel where a superb meal was laid on by the Sandwick team.

A Delting spokesman said that he would like to thank the Sandwick team and officials for all the hospitality shown over the weekend and hoped that the Inter-parish Cup would continue to be played in the future as it was a good way of bringing parish sides together.