The Craig Brown Memorial Trophy kicked off on Saturday, with 12 teams from across Europe descending to Cormack Park to compete in the third edition of the competition. 

Day one featured plenty of action as some of Europe’s best academies battled it out, all whilst honouring the lasting legacy of Craig Brown and his contributions to football. 

This year’s expanded version of the tournament splits the 12 teams into two groups of six, with the top two of each group progressing to Sunday’s semi-finals. The remaining sides will face off in placement matches to determine their finishing position in the tournament. 

Group A saw last year’s participants Rangers, Dundee and Bohemians competing against tournament newcomers Southampton, Westdyke CC 09’s and Norwegian outfit Lillestrøm SK.

In Group B, Aberdeen faced off against Motherwell, Newcastle, Preston North End and tournament new boys PAOK, before a clash with last year’s champions Celtic in tomorrow’s final group game.

The young Dons got off to a strong start in the opening day action, sitting top of Group B with impressive 2-0 victories against Greek side PAOK and Motherwell, as well as a pair of hard fought draws against English outfits Preston North End and Newcastle. 

Thessaloniki side PAOK sat just behind Aberdeen in second place, with two wins against Celtic and Preston accompanying their draw with Motherwell.

Celtic concluded the day’s action in third place despite a slow start, as they triumphed 1-0 against Preston and 2-0 against Newcastle. 

Newcastle finished the day fourth in Group B, with the Magpies prevailing against Motherwell before two stalemates against Preston and Aberdeen. 

After an emphatic 3-0 win against Celtic and a 1-1 draw against PAOK, Motherwell ended the day in fifth place. 

Preston were unable to find a victory on day one and sat in sixth place on two points after draws with Aberdeen and Newcastle. 

Moving onto Group A, it was Rangers who topped the table on seven points despite defeat to Lillestrøm SK, with wins against Southampton, Westdyke and a goalless draw versus Dundee . 

Southampton performed strongly, with the Saints sitting in second place thanks to wins against Dundee and Bohemians. 

After their trip across the North Sea, Lillestrøm SK completed their day in third place courtesy of a pair of 1-0 wins against Rangers and Southampton.  

Local boys Westdyke held their own against some of the finest talent in Europe to wrap up their day’s work in fourth, with a win against Lillestrøm SK and two draws against Dundee and Bohemians taking them up to 5 points. 

Bohemians finished the afternoon on five points, with victory against Lillestrøm SK and two draws against Dundee and Westdyke placing them in fifth. 

After defeat to Southampton as well as a trio of goalless affairs against Bohemians, Westdyke and Rangers, Dundee sat bottom of Group A on three points. 

With a high standard of play and good spirit on show throughout, it promises to be another action packed day tomorrow at Cormack Park, which will include the final round of group games before the Sem-final, placement games, and Grand Final to determine the winner of the Craig Brown Memorial Trophy. After topping Group B, the young Dons will fancy their chances to go all the way and win the tournament for a second time.

To follow the action tomorrow and check the tables in full, click here.