THE first jackpot winner of Helensburgh Football Club’s (HFC) recently-launched lottery scheme has been declared.

Paula Russell scooped the £640 prize in the Our Club Lotto competition after matching four numbers, and last week HFC chairman Paul Campbell presented the lucky winner with her cheque.

Paul told the Advertiser: “It’s great to finally have a jackpot winner, we’ve had a few people match three numbers to take home a £25 prize but no-one had managed to match the four.

“Massive congratulations to Paula who has played her numbers since week one of the lottery, and also a huge thanks from everyone at the club for her support week in, week out.”

The club started the lottery last year as a way to bring in revenue as their usual fund-raising events had to be cancelled due to Covid restrictions.

All funds raised go straight back in to the club’s youth teams and allow them to continue to keep costs for families at a minimum.

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Paul added: “Covid has had a massive impact on the club and we had to think outside the box to ensure that we could keep funds trickling in so that we were able to hit the ground running when things opened back up.

“Our aim is to provide football that is affordable to all and fund-raisers like this go a long way in helping us achieve this goal.”

If anyone would like to have a little flutter and support local kids, head over to ourclublotto.co.uk/play/helensburghfc or use the link on the club’s Facebook page. Entries are £1 each with numbers drawn on a Wednesday evening; deadline for new entries is noon each Wednesday.

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HELENSBURGH FC’s 2008 squad welcomed Dumbarton Riverside to Hermitage Academy last Friday for week three of the PJDYFL league cup group stage, following on from a 4-4 draw with Drumchapel Amateurs and a 3-1 defeat to Dumbarton United.

Helensburgh started the game looking sharp and dominated play for the first 20 minutes, finding themselves with a two goal lead before taking their foot off the gas. This allowed Riverside to come back in to the game and Burgh conceded a goal late in the half to go into the break with a 2-1 lead.

The boys were asked to go back out and play like they had in the opening stage of the game, and they certainly did that; other than allowing their opponents to break and score a second goal the young Burgh team had complete control of the game.

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A good mixture of long ball when required and also getting the ball down and playing good passing football saw them create chance after chance with goals galore, with the final result a resounding 8-2 victory for Helensburgh.

Coach Paul Campbell said afterwards: “To go from 2-1 up at half time and finish the game with an 8-2 win shows just how good the boys played.

“Despite recent results not quite going our way, we have been playing good football and this result was just more progression from the hard work the boys are putting in.”

Helensburgh now go on a five week run of away games starting today (Saturday) with a trip to Paisley to face Langcraigs.

Helensburgh FC are always on the lookout for new players and coaches across all age groups and train at Hermitage Academy on Wednesdays. Anyone interested can contact the club via their Facebook page or by emailing helensburgh fc2008@gmail.com.

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