GALA Fairydean Rovers remain undefeated after the first round of fixtures at the EURO2020 Walking Football league which took place at the Toryglen Sports Centre on Friday.

The tournament was organised by Glasgow Sport in conjunction with Walking Football Scotland to celebrate this year’s European Championships coming to Hampden Park.

A total of 12 teams from throughout the country took part and each side was allocated a host city with Gala representing Budapest.

A number of former Scotland international players including Murdo Macleod, Ian Durrant, Gordon Smith and Simon Donnelly attended the launch along with Rose Reilly who won the World Cup with Italy.

Ahead of kick off, a minute’s applause was held in memory of former Scotland manager Bobby Brown who sadly died earlier in the week.

Budapest’s opening fixture was against Copenhagen who were represented by North Lanarkshire Leisure. After dominating the early period, Budapest took a deserved lead when Jim McLaren won possession in midfield and displayed tremendous composure by calmly sliding the ball into the corner of the net.

Copenhagen fought back and scored twice in two minutes before Gordon Rae secured a share of the points with a trademark piledriver.

The next game against Rome (Sauchie Juniors) was equally hard fought and both sides had chances to win.

Budapest keeper Ross Buchan was in top form and twice produced fine saves to deny the Rome striker whilst Jim Watters almost broke the deadlock with a powerful long-range strike which rebounded off the crossbar.

The third match was an ill-tempered affair against Bilbao (Motherwell) which was settled by a well-taken opportunist goal from Martin Edmunds. Bilbao had a player sent off near the end for a reckless challenge on Edmunds and Budapest easily held on to secure the three points.

The day ended with a comprehensive 3-0 win over Munich (North Ayrshire). Watters opened the scoring then John Dodds added a second before Edmunds wrapped things up. Peter McCourt almost made it four in the dying minute, but his strike shaved the post.

The second round of fixtures will take place on February 14.

Chairman John Hislop said: “We had an enjoyable day out in Glasgow and but for a bit of luck could have taken maximum points.

"This year we will be playing around 50 competitive games in various competitions against teams who have many more players to pick from, so we are keen to encourage more people to attend our sessions which take place at Langlee Community Centre every Monday and Thursday from 2pm – 3.30pm. Newcomers will be made welcome.

“Walking football is a great way to keep fit but it’s also about having fun and making new friends.”