MAYFIELD and Easthouses qualified with ease for the fourth round of the Foster's Sunday Amateur Scottish Trophy when beating Glasgow East 8-1 in gloomy weather at Easthouses Park.
The Midlothian outfit did as much as was required of them to cruise through and the tie was virtually over by half-time when M&E led 5-0, and it should have been double that number of goals.
Glasgow East's offside tactics helped destroy any hope t
he visitors had of making a game of it and they should have been punished even more for such negative tactics.
The home players concentrated on their own passing game and after being caught offside several times in the opening stages, big Allan Reid showed composure to run through the Glasgow trap before planting the ball behind a furious Ross Begley in the visiting goal.
Darren Ross tried to break the mould in the first half with good play on the left for Glasgow, but it was one-way traffic with M&E so much in control it could have been a cricket score in the first half.
Barrie Lindley in the home goal had very little to do except watch and admire as his team-mates swarmed all over the struggling Glasgow side.
A second goal arrived in the 19th minute courtesy of a crisp passing move from M&E with a great final ball over the square Glasgow rearguard and Darren Mitchell ran through from an onside position to bury the ball behind the helpless Begley. The Glasgow goalie warmed up a very cold afternoon with some colourful comments directed at his defence.
James Glodek made it 3-0 with a stunning shot to the keeper's left from 18 yards to finish off another exceptional close passing move from M&E – and still Glasgow persisted in playing the lamentable offside trap. Reid set up Dale Thornton for a shot at Begley's goal but the home No.6 blasted the ball over the bar. But it was Thornton who took the margin to 4-0 when he capitalised on awful defending in the visiting ranks again to slam the ball past Begley.
Glasgow's big No.3 had a tremendous left foot and he tested the home keeper from several free-kicks awarded by match official, Jim Thompson, from Glenrothes in Fife. A brickie to trade, the referee had a good game although he upset the home side late in the second half, when he awarded Glasgow a penalty and then, when the spot-kick went over the bar, allowing them to take the kick again.
Long before that, though, M&E had made it 5-0 with Mitchell timing his run perfectly before beating Begley again, to the obvious annoyance of the visiting keeper.
Home team skipper, Greg Gavin, had to come off injured before the break after he was clattered from behind by his own goalkeeper who had come off his line to punch away another good free-kick from Queen.
The second half was a bit more even with Glasgow showing a definite improvement in attitude.
Joe McGrory, in the No.9 shirt, had a very good second half and it was he who caused most of the problems for the home defence.
Mitchell was brought down in the Glasgow 18-yard box in a challenge from Connor but the referee was right up with play and he did not award a penalty to the disbelief of the home contingent on the touchlines.
Some of the clearances in the visiting defence were wild but the home side appeared content with their lead while Begley distinguished himself with several more excellent saves.
In another good passing move, Mitchell ran in from the left and, under challenge, he managed to force the ball through the keeper's legs and the ball appeared to be deflected off Begley's inside heel on its way to the back of the net.
That made it 6-0 for the home side and Glasgow continued to waste good chances to reduce the deficit with poor deliveries from free-kicks in good positions.
Mitchell then added to his own personal haul of goals when he made it 7-0 after Begley had done well to block a vicious shot from William Donald.
Then Glasgow attacked and the referee awarded the penalty against M&E for a tackle on Paul Knox. It was Knox who took the spot-kick and lobbed the ball over the crossbar. There was consternation in the home ranks, however, when the referee allowed Knox take the kick again and he scored this time to make it 7-1.
The Easthouses keeper and Grant Gavin were both booked for making comments to the referee.
The home side went back up the pitch from the restart and Barry Dillon scored goal No.8 for Mayfield and Easthouses as they booked their place in the fourth round draw.
Mayfield and Easthouses: Barrie Lindley, Grant Gavin, Liam Hall, Bryan Wilson, Greg Gavin, Dale Thornton, James Glodek, David Gillan, Allan Reid, Barry Dillon, Darren Mitchell, Douglas Morrison, Steve McArthur, David Hogg.
Glasgow East: Ross Begley, Terry Connor, Jamie Queen, Stevan Connor, Thomas Beggs, William McCloy, Paul Knox, Joe Carlin, Joseph McGrory, David Ross, Darren Ross, William Donald, Paul Beggs, Paul McGonigle, James Martin, Gary Docherty.
Referee: Jim Thompson (Glenrothes).
