Football league winners Whalsay finish on a high

Senior football champions Whalsay put a recent slump in form behind them to finish the season on a high by defeating Whitedale 4-2 in the last league match of the season.

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Whalsay 4, Whitedale 2

On a horrendous night both teams deserve credit for serving up a good match. Whalsay took the lead in the first minute when a corner kick was taken short, Keith Pearson delivered a fine ball into the box and John Montgomery bulleted a header into the back of the net.

Whalsay were playing well and no-one better at this stage than Allister Johnson, the wide man serving up a couple of great balls, but unfortunately no-one was able to get on the end of them.

Whalsay did, however, increase their lead after 25 minutes when a free kick from 25 yards was drilled into the far corner by Ian Simpson.

Whitedale started to come back into the game and won a free kick 25 yards out. Martin Clark stepped up and curled the ball round the wall and inside the post past the despairing dive of Grant Thomson.

The remainder of the half saw Whalsay try to take advantage of the wind with some decent shots from outside the box. However, Martin Young was in fine form in the Whitedale goal, diving his full length at least three times to produce saves which kept his side in the game.

The second half was only 10 minutes in when Whitedale equalised and it was Clark, scoring his own and his side’s second of the match with a contender for goal of the season. He picked up the ball out wide on the right and came inside to unleash a shot from almost 30 yards that rocketed into the top left hand corner of Thomson’s goal.

Whalsay managed to kick themselves into life and with 20 minutes to go took the lead again. A great move saw Keith Pearson thread a sublime pass through to Brian Irvine and the front man smashed the ball from just inside the box across Young and inside the far post.

The fourth goal came with 10 minutes to go, this time a goalmouth melee seeing Bryan Irvine produce a deft flick to score from six yards and make the game safe.

Duncan Anderson looked to have pulled one back for Whitedale in the last minute when he ran through and fired the ball past the keeper but it was ruled out for offside.

Ivan Sinclair then brought the game and season to a close and all that was left was for Shetland Football Association president Magnus Flaws to present the league trophy to Whalsay captain Richard Arthur in front of the delighted home support.

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Delting B 3, Whalsay B 1

Delting, playing against the strong wind, went ahead after 20 minutes when a cross from Lee Jamieson found Danny Carter who finished well.

Pressing for the equaliser, Whalsay were again caught on the break when Delting broke quickly and after a fine passing move the ball again fell to Lee Jamieson on the left. He cut inside and shot past the Whalsay keeper to give the home side a decisive 2-0 lead at half time.

Whalsay fought back well in the second half but were unable to convert their pressure into goals. Delting finished strongly and were rewarded when Robert Balfour scored to seal the win.

James Shearer scored a consolation goal for Whalsay in the 90th minute with a well-taken free kick.