Gala Fairydean Rovers hit double figures against Tweedmouth in cup

Tweedmouth are a progressive club and, having fielded a team predominantly made up of youngsters, they showed their ability with some slick passing movements in the early stages of the game.

Their visitors from Galashiels were in no mood to hang around, though, and Marc Berry broke the deadlock after seven minutes by skipping past his marker before drilling in a low shot into the far corner of the net.

Daryl Healy then took over and bagged a hat-trick within the space of 12 minutes, thanks to some clinical finishing, and Martin Scott also netted during that productive spell.

Five up at the interval, the Braw Lads made all their three substitutions at the break, including a welcome return for Craig McBride to the centre of defence.

It wasn’t all one-way traffic, however, as only a brilliant fingertip save from Gala keeper Mason McCready prevented Tweedmouth from pulling a goal back shortly after the restart.

After that though it was one way traffic with Ciaren Chalmers scoring twice from pin-point Jack Beaumont corners.

Scott made it 8-0 before Healy grabbed a double in the space of 60 seconds to take his tally for the game to five in total.

The final 10 minutes were played predominantly in the Tweedmouth half, with ex-Gala keeper Mark Walters producing some brilliant saves to thwart Beaumont on a couple of occasions.

Playing a club a couple of tiers above them in the Scottish football pyramid and losing by such a hefty margin, it would have been easy for the young Northumbrian side to lose their discipline, but they kept battling to the final whistle and deserved a consolation goal. However, McCready denied them what would have been their just deserts with a couple of solid saves.

Neil Hastings’ side now face their biggest match of the season in the shape of a Scottish Cup tie away to Edinburgh’s Spartans on Saturday, September 18.

With Spartans having won at Netherdale by four goals in a Scottish Lowland Football League match in July, they will be favourites to progress to the second round, but Gala will be hoping to pull off an upset against a side eight places and 10 points ahead of them in the league.

Tickets for the forthcoming league encounter between Gala and Rangers B are set to go on sale on Sunday, September 19.

They’re priced £8 for adults, £4 for concessions and £1 for under-16s accompanied by an adult. Unaccompanied youngsters won’t be allowed in.

That game is scheduled to take place on Saturday, September 25, at Netherdale, with kick-off at 3pm and entry by all-ticket, but it will be postponed if Gala draw against Spartans in the cup this weekend as any replay, if required, would be played on the 25th.

Tickets for Rangers supporters will be available via the Fanbase website, with a link to be posted on Rovers’ Facebook page.

Home supporters can get their tickets from Gala’s clubrooms on Sunday between noon and 5pm and Monday, September 20, between 5pm and 9pm. GFR Premier Club members get in free of charge but still need to pick up tickets in advance to ensure capacity limits are not exceeded.