Dominant Spurs retain Manson Cup

Kick-off at the Manson Cup final on Friday evening was delayed by 40 minutes as the coastguard helicopter had to make a landing on the pitch.

When the game eventually started, Lerwick Spurs showed they’d kept sharp in their extended warm-up, opening the scoring in the fifth minute.

Sam Ward had already had an effort saved by the time Scott Morrison stood up a cross for danger man Paul Molloy to head in from a couple of yards.

That was to be the pattern for much of the first half, with Whalsay struggling to make any impact on the game as Spurs dominated.

Ward and Morrison were both causing a great deal of trouble for Whalsay, with the latter rattling the bar from range.

As ever this season, though, Molloy offered the most potent threat. He had half-volleyed over and put the ball in the net from an offside position before another effort was saved by Kyle Duncan.

Duncan’s parry fell straight to Dominic Mann, who slid in to make it 2-0.

On half an hour, Mann had a headed effort blocked over from Morrison’s cross. From the resultant corner, Andrew Flett beat everyone at the back post to head in Spurs’ third.

Whalsay’s first decent effort of the half was a long-range John Pearson strike that forced Grant Wood into a save, but that aside it was all Spurs. Whalsay’s Lee Irvine clashed with David Mann, with the referee booking both players.

Molloy, Lewis Kay and Ewan Stewart all had further chances, but Spurs went into half-time sitting comfortably at 3-0.

The second half saw Whalsay make a concerted effort to salvage something from the game. However, in spite of improving markedly, Spurs were mostly able to restrict them to strikes from range.

Spurs, for their part, were content to sit deeper, having fewer but higher quality attacks.

Alastair Johnson’s pair of strikes from distance failed to threaten, and sandwiched two close efforts from Dominic Mann at the other end. Pearson did have a good chance for Whalsay, but put his header just over.

Morrison was still causing Whalsay great trouble, and from his cross Ryan Stewart poked in for 4-0 after his initial effort was blocked.

The Bonnie Isle side continued to try their luck from range, sub Ian Anderson half-volleying just wide from a long throw. At the other end, Molloy was causing havoc, but failed to add to his opener.

With the light dimming, the game somewhat fizzled out. At the whistle, Spurs had defended the Manson Cup with a win that had been on the cards from almost the moment the coastguard helicopter took off again.

Liam Billington