Joint Oldest Amateur Club Almost Folded
Report by Andy McLaren
Kintore veteran Andy McCall today challenged his new teammates to do their bit to bring the glory days back to the club.
The Aberdeenshire outfit recently suffered their second successive relegation after coming down from Division One (East) last season.
Now Kintore have looked to youth as they strive to recapture the form that won them promotion to Amateur football’s top flight in 2010.
Kintore have recently signed 19 new players under the age of 21.
And Andy, who has made over 300 appearances for the club, admits his side are lucky to still be in existence after almost folding due to a lack of players.
He said: “This season has seen an extreme turnaround in players.
“In my opinion, the team was too old last season and it was definitely time for change.
“When we were in the Premier Division, we lost a variety of players to better teams and we simply didn’t replace them.
“We had no option but to bring boys in and now it’s time to build for the future.
“At least 4 or 5 of our regular players moved to Colony Park in the junior leagues but it’s now becoming very hard to keep players.
“It’s never easy stepping up from under-19 level so I think it will take a season before we can truly show what we can do.
“We have had a few poor results recently but once the younger boys are settled, I’m confident we can get close to where we once were in Amateur football.”
Kintore were founded in 1947 and are one of the only remaining Amateur teams left in the Association.
But the Aberdeenshire side found themselves 1-0 down against Bankhead in this Division Two (East) match when Jake Strachan rose high to bullet the ball past Lewis Milne on 10 minutes.
Bankhead, who finished runners-up in Division Three last season, almost went two goals ahead but Milne reacted well to divert Shaun McCann’s low drive around the post.
The Bankhead attacker made up for the miss by calmly slotting his low shot past the goalkeeper to make it 2-0 on 20 minutes.
Kintore were given a lifeline when Ryan Glennie showed good composure to slot his penalty home after 25 minutes.
Stuart Robertson-Edgar regained his sides two goal advantage moments before half-time when his shot deflected against Dave Dalgarno before curling into the back of the net.
Half-time: 1 – 4
Bankhead continued to pressure the Kintore backline and scored their fourth when McCann capitalised on a defensive mix up to make it 4-1 on 55 minutes.
The Bankhead attacker secured his hat-trick when he unleashed a power drive into the top corner of the net on 62 minutes to make it 5-1.
Bankhead comfortably secured three points when Jarvis Ferguson and Lewis Jack both scored late goals to make it 7-1 to the Aberdeen side.
Full Time: 1 – 7
Kintore: Milne, Singer, Donald, Dalgarno, Ewan, Glennie, Stronach, Mutch, McCall, Jaka, Stewart.
Subs: Webster, Gerrard, Ewan, Reid, Wilson.
Bankhead: Walker, Paterson, Buchan, Low, Hay, Milne, Ogg, McCann, Robertson-Edgar, Strachan, Ferguson.
Subs: Allison, Hulse, O’Hara, Jack, Reid.
Referee – K Fordyce
