NINE Helensburgh and Lomond schools competed in the area’s annual Christian Aid football tournament.

Hermitage, who had won the Active Schools Cup back in October, were seen as favourites to win the competition, and narrowly defeated Cardross in their first game with a superb goal from Charlie Cooke.

Cardross, however, recovered from that opening-game loss to defeat Kilcreggan, Rosneath and John Logie Baird in their three other group games.

A fine performance by Kilcreggan pushed Hermitage all the way in another group game, but it was Hermitage who won a close game 2-0.

In the other section St Joseph’s Primary, with Jacob Shields and Seth Kerr holding the defence together, won their group games against Rhu, Lomond and Colgrain, while Oscar Jamieson in goal for Lomond was in superb form and helped his team to qualify for the semi-finals in second place in the group.

In the opening knockout tie Hermitage proved too strong for Lomond and ran out 4-0 winners, while in the other semi-final the goal of the night saw Cardross string five passes together before a diving header from Calum Sharp settled the tie.

The final saw Cardross and Hermitage meet again, and this time it was Cardross who had most of the play.

But they lacked the cutting edge, and when Ross Fulton was fouled on the right, Graham forced the ball home to give Hermitage the lead.

Despite having Hermitage pinned back, the best Cardross could muster was from a deep cross by Dobbin which was cleared off the line by Fulton as Herimgate again won 1-0.

Ellen Drummond from the Helensburgh Christian Aid group thanked the large crowd for coming to watch the games and for their generous donations to Christian Aid, while Jacqui Diamond of Helensburgh Toyota, who sponsored the event, said she had thoroughly enjoyed the night’s football in the sunshine.

Euan Birss from Ardencaple, who are celebrating their 50th year, said the club was proud to continue helping with the competition, which all the schools enjoy.

Billy Murdoch and his granddaughters handed over the Wallace Murdoch Trophy for the player of the tournament to Ross Fulton and the Martha Murdoch Trophy to Hermitage Primary.

Thanks to Andy Black, Max Weir, Robert Holland, Clive Charters and Euan Birss for their help running the tournament.

Best wishes were extended to Cody McCutcheon, who suffered a head knock on the night and missed the final.