A Scottish amateur football team has faced a humiliating loss in the first round of the Scottish Amateur Cup, losing 51-0 to a rival team.
St Machar Thistle played with eight men
St Machar Thistle, a newly formed team from Aberdeen, travelled to Stonehaven to play against AC Mill Inn Academy on Saturday. However, they had only ten players show up and two trialists were denied permission to play, leaving them with eight men on the field. They also had no goalkeeper, so their captain Eoin Devlin had to play in goal despite recovering from a broken ankle.
AC Mill Inn Academy showed no mercy
The home team took advantage of the situation and scored 25 goals in the first half and another 26 in the second half. They did not ease up on their opponents, who tried their best to defend and attack with seven men after one of them got injured. The final score was 51-0, one of the highest ever recorded in Scottish amateur football.
St Machar Thistle praised their opponents
Despite the heavy defeat, St Machar Thistle showed good sportsmanship and praised their opponents on social media. They said AC Mill Inn Academy deserved all the credit for their “first class attacking performance” and wished them well for the rest of the season and the next round of the cup. They also said they would keep their heads held high and move on from the loss.
The Scottish Amateur Cup is a prestigious tournament
The Scottish Amateur Cup is an annual knockout competition for amateur football teams in Scotland. It was founded in 1909 and has over 600 teams participating every year. The winner of the cup qualifies for the Scottish Cup, which is the main national cup tournament for professional and semi-professional teams. The current holders of the amateur cup are Colville Park AFC, who beat Eastfield AFC 2-1 in the final last year.
The future of St Machar Thistle is uncertain
St Machar Thistle was formed only two months ago and has been struggling to find players and funds. They have lost all their games so far, including a 19-0 defeat to AC Mill Inn Academy the previous weekend. They have also been fined by the league for failing to fulfil fixtures and having insufficient players. The team’s manager, John Smith, said he was not sure if they would be able to continue playing next season.
Will St Machar Thistle survive this ordeal and bounce back stronger? Or will they fold and become a footnote in Scottish football history? Only time will tell.
