HOLY ROOD High School beat Leith Academy 2-1 in Edinburgh Secondary Schools' FA under-13 League Cup final at Meggetland, with the winner coming towards the end of one of the most enjoyable and exciting games anyone could possibly hope to see at any level of football.
The players were totally honest and the commitment shown on the pitch was fantastic.
This was schools' football at its best, letting the players express themselves on the very good enclosed pitch at Meggetland, with the support and encouragement o
f a terrific crowd of spectators on both touchlines.
Leith Academy had in goals the exceptional Pavel Sojda, and what a game this young man had for his team.
The young Polish-born star made save after save, and Holy Rood also had a real star turn in their striker, Suleiman Hassan.
Hassan must have been sick of the sight of Sodja blocking and saving his shots that could have produced a goal against a keeper of lesser ability.
With their big keeper defying everything from Hassan and his team-mates at one end of the pitch, Leith opened the scoring at the other end with a great shot.
Sodja continued to thwart Hassan and a one-handed clutch of the ball in the second half by the big keeper was quite audacious.
But Hassan scored the equaliser for Holy Rood and the game was settled by a tremendous free-kick from Holy Rood in the closing minutes when midfield ace Liam Peden's powerful driven shot into the Leith goal was deflected by a defender leaving Sodja helpless this time.
On the previous night at Meggetland, Deans High School beat Armadale 2-1 in the Lothian Schools under-16 Cup final, while Craigmount fought back from being 2-1 behind at the halfway stage of the Seniors Cup final to seal a thrilling fightback with a 5-2 victory over Lasswade.
EAST & Midlothian will meet Dumfries in the final of the Scottish Schools FA Under-15 at the Shotts Bon Accord stadium on Friday with a 7.00pm kick-off time.
This will be the seventh time in the last ten years that East & Mid have reached the final of this event.
FIRRHILL School's under-15 squad are due to play North Berwick in the final of the Regional Trophy introduced into schools football this season, in an event intending to cover all regions in the Lothians.
A date and venue have still to be arranged for this game.
