JOHN WALDIE became the first Selkirk captain in 30 years to lift silverware on Wednesday evening at a sun-kissed Victoria Park.

And even though the season has been marred by their inability to stay in the Premier Division on their own merits, the players' smiles were there for all to see.

It was such a different story at half-time.

Selkirk had barely been close enough to the Lothian Thistle goal to know what colour the nets were. They were that bad.

Thistle were ahead 1-0, thanks to an 18th-minute Sean Lally strike.

Selkirk's best player in those first 45 minutes was Craig Livingstone, but all his efforts went astray. The Souters' heads were down as they filtered into the dressing room.

As Waldie said after the match, it wasn't anything new.

He said: "If we have had a poor first half, we normally speak about it in the dressing room.

"We say: 'Let's get out there and do a wee bit better than we did in the first half.'

"So far this year, it hasn't happened as we have under-achieved, but it certainly happened tonight.

"In an otherwise poor season, it has put a smile on our faces."

As the second half got under way, Livingstone went close a couple of times to show Thistle they were not about to lie down.

Unfortunately, Selkirk lost their inspirational captain to injury in the 51st minute, substitute Ian Potts taking on the armband.

And, two minutes later, a fantastic move which included Andrew Brown, Livingstone and Potts, ended in Lee Stephen cracking the ball into the net for the equaliser.

Afterwards, Waldie joked: "They turned it on as soon as I went off – I'll have to do it more often, I think."

But they weren't finished yet. Four minutes later, the ball was in the net again.

Craig Tyson nicked the ball in midfield and threaded the ball to Brown on the left flank. His cross was met with power and precision at the back post by Craig Lothian to take the lead.

It was a deserved lead, but it was still a slender one.

The entire Selkirk defence played out of their boots to ensure Lothian barely got a sniff at goal, but when they did, Souters' keeper John Dodds was up to the task. His best save came from a Phil O'Neil free kick which swung round the three-man Selkirk wall and was heading for the top corner, until Dodds threw himself at the ball and managed to turn it behind.

Two minutes from time, Brown, who was complicit in Selkirk's previous two goals, got one himself to relieve the pressure. He stuck Potts' throughball into the net and the Souters were able to start celebrating.
Boss Fraser Lothian told The Wee Paper: "This is the first trophy in a long time, which I think is ridiculous. We should have won some inbetween.

"We'll take the plaudits for this one, though. We were poor in the first half, but we showed the character to come back in the second – we were a different team altogether.

"Even when we lost our captain, the players rallied together superbly.
"I'm really chuffed for all the players.

"Football is a funny game as we found out this season, but we got a break for once."

Selkirk: J.. Dodds., L. Stephen, B. Milven, S. Anderson, J. Waldie (I. Potts 51 mins), G. Lothian, M. Romanes (A. Jackson 7 mins), C. Tyson, C. Livingstone, C. Lothian and A. Brown.