Tynecastle tough it out after early loss to reach final

TYNECASTLE EAST under-13s booked their place in the final of the Peter O'Neill Cup with a magnificent 3-1 win against a very good Edinburgh City side at St Augustine's High School playing fields.

The Tynie terrors went 1-0 down in the 14th minute of this game played on a big pitch that suited the passing style of both teams. Kieran McGachie gave City a deserved lead when he finished off a good break, firing the ball past opposition goalie Daniel Duffy at the second attempt to make it 1-0 for Edinburgh City.

Playing their lovely passing game, the home side looked to be in a good commanding position, but the Tynecastle kids did not let their heads drop and they went on to take charge of the game with their all-action style of play.

They hit back at City and got back on level terms in the 31st minute with a freak goal, a huge punt into the goalmouth from away out on the left wing from Stuart Duncanson taking a crazy bounce in the City goalmouth to bounce over Lee Miller's outstretched arms and into the net to make the score 1-1 at the break.

Paul Fergie had looked good for Tynecastle East in the first half and it was this pacy youngster playing up front who was to cause the City defenders all sorts of problems in the second half of the game.

The effort put into by the visiting side upped the pace of the game and it became much more like a cup-tie in the second half with Tynecastle East looking the likelier side to score the longer the game went on.

The proof of that came when Fergie outpaced his marker in the City defence to fire a good shot into the left-hand side of the City net to put Tynecastle East 2-1 ahead.

Edinburgh City could not match the energy of the visitors who went even further in front when the alert Scott Aitken took advantage of a mistake in the City goalmouth to fire the ball into the empty net to take the score to 3-1.

That was still the score when Mike Smith, another of the excellent match officials from the Edinburgh District Branch of the SFA Referees blew for time up.

The way Tynecastle and their fans celebrated this win gave the impression it was an unexpected triumph. Well done to them and congratulations, too, to Edinburgh City for not letting the disappointment of losing affect their sportsmanship and they duly lined up to shake the hands of the winners in a nice gesture to mark the end a good cup semi-final.

Tynecastle East: Daniel Duffy, Paul Keiller, Jamie Anderson, Conor Horribine, Calum Donaldson, Jack Ramage, Danny Hubbard, Scott Aitken, Paul Fergie, Craig Robertson, Ryan Russell, Zachary Shapero, Stuart Duncanson, Calum Dalgliesh.

Edinburgh City: Lee Miller, Lewis Bain, Ryan Hutchison, Justin Thompson, Chris Kane, David McNeil, Chris Tobin, Calum Milligan, Jordan Low, Kieran McGachie, Greg Murray, Calum Irvine, Callum Lewis, Ryan McLean.

Referee: Mike Smith.

Taken from the Scotsman