FC Thistle celebrate quadruple winning first season in Forres and Nairn District Welfare Football Association
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A QUADRUPLE-winning local football team recently celebrated its first season in the pub it took its name from.
FC Thistle’s players and management showed off silverware to fellow patrons following their Forres and Nairn District Welfare Football Association cup and league wins, while handing out the squad’s individual player awards.
Player manager Barry ‘Bazza’ Stables’ side won the McIntosh Rosebowl, Calum Riddell Cup, FNDWFA Cup as well as the summer welfare league itself.
He said: “We hope that other teams in the area get the best possible players they can to make the competitions a success next year ... But we look forward to retaining all of our trophies!
“The army made the contests competitive this year ... But the secret behind our success is our desire to win.”
Striker Scotty Moore founded FC Thistle with fellow former Forres Mechanics team-mates Mattie Davidson and Ross Macpherson, and ex-Forres Thistle player Craig Short.
The squad also includes former Cans Lee Davidson, Simon Allan and Tony Ross, as well as Highland League stalwarts Martin McMullan, Ross Duncan and Sean McIntosh.
“There is a huge amount of experience, fitness and respect amongst us,” said Stables.
“The reason for putting the team together, and our main focus this year, was just to get the lads back together. We all played at a good level but we’re now at the age where work and family commitments mean we can’t play or train as much as we would like.”
Thistle got off to a flying start in their 2023 campaign, going undefeated in friendlies before the competitive matches started, including beating FC Fochabers, who won the treble in the Moray Welfare League, and Culloden, who also won the Inverness Welfare League this season.
Stables said: “We’ve proved in the local area that there aren’t many welfare teams that can match us!”
Despite not training at all, Thistle lost just once this season, against their main rivals Kinloss Sappers.
Stables explained: “We lacked in numbers due to holidays that day and were beaten 1-0 at Roysvale ... But we went the rest of the season without dropping any more points.”
He added: “Our last game of the season was a rearranged match away against the army. The Kinloss Astro was packed with a hostile home crowd but we put on our best performance of the season. After a tight first half our experience and superior fitness resulted in our 5-2 win.”
In Thistle’s end of season awards; Martin McMullan got the most ‘man of the matches’ as voted by the players after each game; top scorer was named as Mattie Davidson with 20 goals; players’ player of the season was jointly awarded to Damian ‘DD’ Niedzwiedz and Ross ‘Chucky’ McPherson; and the manager’s player of the year was Anthony Ross.
Stables’ personal highlight of the season was playing himself in the final ten minutes of a league game.
“I was the only sub on the bench due to holidays,” he said. “Simon Allan got injured so I had to go on.
“I hadn’t played in over five years due to injury but I scored a diving header and I also had a shot cleared off the line!”
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