Dunfermline Athletic over-35s win two East Region trophies

Dunfermline Athletic Community Club over-35s netted glory in the East Region Over-35s league as they won its Fife and Perth league, before going on to win the 'Champions Cup' trophy against the winners of the Dundee and Angus division, Menzieshill.

The team, coached by Barry Roberts, who also pulls his boots on to play, won nine of their 10 divisional matches, with a 6-1 success over Lochore Castle giving them their first Fife and Perth league title.

With home advantage at Pitreavie, they then added a second trophy with a 3-1 victory over Menzieshill, capping a superb year which also saw them reach the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup.

The Pars squad has consisted of between 36 and 38 players throughout, the oldest of which is 55, and Barry, 43, explained: "The over-35s has only been on the go for about three years, competitively.

"It was more a social thing - five-a-side, seven-a-side, things like that - before, and then we took the plunge to enter the competitive seasons, and Scottish Cup etcetera.

"The first season was obviously just gathering players, but the past two seasons, we've actually been teetering on the edge of actually being successful, getting to a couple of finals, regional ones, challenging Kelty Hearts for the league, who have been pretty successful as well.

"And then, this season, when I took over, I've kind of strengthened the squad a little bit on an already pretty good team. We've kind of went from strength-to-strength, from only being beat once in the league this season, and being the first Perth, Fife, Dundee team to reach the latter stages of the Scottish Cup, just narrowly getting beat 1-0 in the semi-final.

"The lads have done really, really well.

"Obviously, Friday night football is sometimes quite difficult, so it's difficult to keep a steady squad when people are on shifts, myself off-shore, things like that, but we've managed to keep good depth in the squad to achieve this this season.

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"We were taken all the way to the last game by Glenrothes Strollers, who also put a good squad together this season, but we got it over the line.

"It qualified us to play in the Champions Cup final, against Menzieshill, and we came out 3-1 winners to complete the double for the season.

"It's brilliant from the lads for only being together pretty much three years."

Barry added: "We've had a few ex-players playing for us as well.

"It's a really good standard of over-35s. When some of the guys come in, they think it's going to be nice and easy, the ball floating about the place, but it's actually really competitive.

"The guys never lose that competitive edge, and like I say, you've got guys that are either just finishing junior football, or a couple of ex-pros, and things like that, so it's really good.

"It's a huge achievement for the boys, and the club's obviously over the moon with us winning the league. The league's always a big hitter, isn't it, and it's achieved over months and months of games.

The Pars won the Fife and Perth league before beating Dundee and Angus champions Menzieshill to win the Champions Cup. (Image: Barry Roberts / Dunfermline Athletic Community Club over-35s.)

"We've had to carry about 38 players. We have a limit of 40, but we carried between 36, 38 players over the whole season.

"Like I say, it's hard to field that same team two times in a row, but what we have found this season is we've kept a core bunch of players that have been able to play most games, which I think's benefitted us the most, because you've got that consistency in these areas, and you just fill in the gaps round about with other guys, who, again, are all strong players, but when you're not playing with each other on a weekly basis, it can sometimes knock the consistency out, but it's actually been pretty good.

"The ages vary as well because, although it's over 35, I think our youngest player is maybe 36, 37, and our oldest player is 55.

"I'm 43, and I play as well, so you're not all on the younger age, or just finished. There is a variety of ages, which is again testament to the guys for wanting to keep fit, keep playing."