Ardencaple under-14’s clinched a League cup victory at the weekend, beating Oban Saints 1-0 to become the first Ardencaple team to achieve a League and Cup double winning season.

Ardencaple under-14’s clinched a League cup victory at the weekend, beating Oban Saints 1-0 to become the first Ardencaple team to achieve a League and Cup double winning season.

Millburn Park (Home of Vale of Leven Juniors) was the venue for Ardencaples historic win.

The game started in blustery conditions and it was Oban who came out the stronger, putting pressure on the defence, but a solid Ardencaple back four marshalled by the excellent Andrew Dunn and Liam Goldie was not for budging.

As the game progressed Ardencaple were relying on the counter attack to put pressure on Oban with some excellent breaks down the right from Robbie Livingston, only to see his efforts on goal blocked by a resolute Oban defence.

It was Oban who were to come closest to opening the scoring in the first half when a shot from eight yards clipped the top of the bar to the relief of the Ardencaple players.

This sparked a response from Ardencaple as the central midfield three of Luke Mallett, Ross Cathro and Stuart Cathro started to gain control and pass the ball with more purpose and a great through ball saw Jack Ward advance on the keeper only to be blocked by the defender.

Ardencaple came out the stronger team in the second half and started to put pressure on the Oban defence, some great crosses from Murray Grant on the left continued to cause panic in the Oban penalty box but nobody could find the finishing touch.

Ardencaple then thought they had opened the scoring when good play down the right ended with Ross McKechnie turning home a Craig Andrews cross only to see the linesman flag for offside.

Ardencaple continued to push for the first goal but almost got caught out on the break when the Oban striker broke through on goal only to be thwarted by the advancing Nathan Walker in goal who stood tall to force the shot wide.

The tension was mounting as a closely fought match entered the last 10 minutes when Ardencaple'’s Liam Robson received the ball wide on the right, cutting inside two players, his driving run towards the penalty box ended with him unleashing a shot which looped high over the Oban keeper into the net.

At the restart, Oban responded by pushing players forward looking for an equaliser but strong tackling from the Ardencaple players continued to thwart the opposition, strong running from Daniel Tait saw him advance on goal only to be taken down by the defender.

Ardencaple out the final few minutes to secure a 1-0 victory and spark celebrations amongst the players.

A big well done to Ardencaple for an outstanding season which has seen them crowned League and Cup winners, scoring over 100 goals in the process, conceding the fewest goals and only losing one game all season.

All the players can now look forward to their prizegiving night which takes place on the July 19.