GALA Fairydean Rovers won their opening three fixtures in this year’s Scottish Walking Football League at the Ravenscraig Sports Centre in Motherwell on Wednesday.

The tournament, organised by Walking Football Scotland in partnership with North Lanarkshire Leisure and Health & Social Care North, was opened by Scottish football legend David Hay.

A total of 12 teams from throughout the country took part in the opening round of fixtures, an increase of two from last year.

Games were played in accordance with the recently published WFS ‘Laws of the Game’ and officiated by accredited referees.

Each fixture lasted 18 minutes with no breaks.

Teams are awarded three points for a victory, two for a draw and one for fulfilling the tie.

Gala’s opening game was against newcomers Oriam on one of the outdoor pitches. The Borderers started brightly and scored twice in the opening 50 seconds before going on to dominate the game which ended in a 4-1 victory.

The next fixture against Stenhousemuir’s ‘Warriors in the Community’ was a hard-fought contest and only a fantastic penalty save from Gala’s veteran goalkeeper Mike Bisland kept the score level before two late goals from Rovers secured the three points.

A superb Jim Watters hat-trick gave Gala a 3-0 lead in the final game against Glasgow Sport West and although they conceded a late goal from the penalty spot, Rovers held on for a comfortable win.

The results leave Gala joint top of the table with Hearts.

The next round of fixtures will take place on Wednesday.

GFR player Mike Godsman said: "The key to our success in the first round of fixtures was scoring first in all three matches along with excellent ball retention and good game management to see all the games out professionally.”

Walking football sessions are held at the Langlee Community Centre every Monday between 2.30pm and 4pm and outdoors on the 3G surface at Netherdale between 2.30pm and 4pm every Thursday.

New members will be made welcome.

Gala Fairydean Rovers will be hosting their annual Walking Football Festival on May 27 at Netherdale.