ABERDOUR Shinty Club received the perfect 10th anniversary present when their second team made it to their first ever semi-final.

The team defeated Kyles Athletic 4-2 in the Bullough Cup last Saturday as they celebrated their birthday.

The victory means Aberdour have knocked out both finalists from last year's competition, which is played for by reserve-level teams from the South of Scotland, after defeating GMA in the previous round.

Delighted team manager Lisa Norman hailed her troops for defeating a team who play a division above Aberdour's second squad.

She said, "Considering Kyles play a division above us and have beaten our first team this season it was a fantastic result.

"The players in the second team have really been developing and even a month ago we probably couldn't have put on that kind of performance.

"Over the season, despite suffering a few heavy defeats, they are learning from it and Saturday was an incredible example of what they can do.

"It was quite an incredible atmosphere and you couldn't have planned it better for our 10th anniversary." Aberdour bounced back from losing a sixth-minute goal to lead at half-time thanks to a double from Alec Mitchell.

Strikes from Brandon Marshall in 77 minutes and Steven Christison three minutes from time secured the win.

Norman continued, "I think that is a statement in itself of how far we've come and the irony of it being Aberdour versus Kyle, where I started playing.

"To beat them was just unbelievable." Aberdour will face the winner of Col-Glen and the SCOTS shinty club at home in the semi-final later this year.

"I had Kyles to be favourites for this cup and we knocked out GMA in the first round so we've knocked out the two finalists.

"Every game is hard but Saturday has proved that anybody can win it," Norman added.

She hailed the work of everyone involved with the club in helping them make it to their 10th birthday and said, "A lot of people put in a lot of time.

"You have got to have the backing of a fantastic committee, players and parents as they're the ones that turn it into a club.

"Without their support there wouldn't be a club."