FOUR Wallyford Bluebell FC players and two friends had “a fantastic experience” appearing on the popular TV show Soccer AM as Fans of the Week on Saturday.
The county sextet were in the studio throughout the show, which went out live on Sky Sports at 10.30am.
The players for the amateur team – captain Daniel Howie, Jordan McCallion and brothers Jack and Shaun Moffat – along with friends Darren Hall and Lewis Brown, took part in the volley challenge and pro am questions to win cash.
They travelled by train to London last Friday evening, with Sky covering all travel and hotel costs, as well as taxi fares to and from the studio.
The trip came about after Soccer AM posted on Twitter that it was looking for Scotland fans to appear on the show.
After an email from Daniel and a couple of phone calls later, the trains were booked from Edinburgh Waverley to London King’s Cross as the members of the Musselburgh Tartan Army headed south. Recent trips to watch Scotland abroad have taken them to Dublin, Düsseldorf and Metz.
They later said they had a “brilliant time” on their all-expenses-paid trip, spending Friday night familiarising themselves with their surroundings before sampling the local nightlife.
After being chauffeured to Sky’s studios in Isleworth the next day, they then met presenters Jimmy Bullard and John Fendley and professional footballer Conor Coady before the show started.
Brothers Shaun and Jack excelled in the pro am quiz, winning £400 for the group with the help of Conor and celebrity guest Danny Miller, who plays Aaron Dingle in the TV soap Emmerdale.
The group then had 60 seconds to score as many volleys as they could to top the leaderboard.
Three sensational strikes from Darren, a left-foot wonder strike for Jack, and one more each from both Lewis and Jordan brought their total to six, which had them joint top of the leaderboard.
If they remain there for the rest of the season, they will be invited back down for a play-off.
Daniel said: “The weekend was a fantastic experience and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“The treatment from the guys at Sky was first-class and here’s hoping we make it back down for the final at the end of the season.”
The volleys challenge can be viewed on the Soccer AM instagram page instagram.com/p/B3hQL1sAqi2/?igshid=kewll1qy3h4z
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