'Life Changing Experience' A few days later the school played a second fixture against Benfica Academy – where the players achieved a result they can savour for years. An early strike from Motherwell’s Jamie Semple was enough to give Braidhurst High a 1-0 win, with eye-catching performances from captain Sam Duncan (Motherwell) and goalkeeper Jon McCracken (Hamilton). Gordon said: “This was a life changing, positive experience for these young players, one that they will remember forever, be it if they build on this to become professional footballers or not”. “It makes you so proud to see them grow in confidence and perform on and off the pitch in what had many challenging and exciting environments.

“Credit must go to the school and their clubs not only to all the players staff and partners involved.”