FANS at Leith Links were treated to a great display of attacking football from Leith Athletic under-14s in their 9-0 win against Bonnyrigg Rose in the City Financial Edinburgh South East Cup.
Leith have strengthened their squad this season and their players are rotated each week to ensure they are all given valuable match practice – but that did not affect the quality of their play in this game.
The visiting side from Midlothian did
nothing wrong in this one-sided contest, they were just beaten by one of the best under-14 squads to feature in the South East Region Youth FA.
The quality of play from the Leith players was not just good, it was outstanding in every way, from front to back.
In their first attack on the Bonnyrigg goal, the powerhouse on the right in the No.17 jersey for Leith, Conway Hunter, put his side 1-0 up with a goal in the first minute and he added another in the fourth minute to make it 2-0. Before Bonnyrigg could regroup, they went 3-0 down from a Sean Melvin lob and, in another attack, visiting goalkeeper, Connor Jones, palmed a shot from Gavin Kneeshaw up in the air and when it came down, there was panic when a Bonnyrigg defender sliced his clearance sending the ball shooting up into the air again, before coming down just under the bar. Jones somehow managed to push the ball on to the bar and then collect it when it dropped down again.
Jones showed great awareness when he came out of goal to beat Brendan Edwards to a through ball and clear the danger.
Leith were not to be denied, however, and a ball into the Bonnyrigg goal was deflected to the waiting Edwards and this good young footballer simply smashed the ball past Jones from ten yards out to take the score to 4-0.
The agony continued for the visiting side from Midlothian when Kneeshaw thundered home goal No.5 for Leith.
Jones distinguished himself with another great stop to deflect another wonderful shot from Kneeshaw behind for a corner.
Melvin was the next to have a shot at the Bonnyrigg goal but the ball crashed off the top of the crossbar and over for a goal-kick. In the next attack, it was the turn of Edwards to see his shot hit the crossbar again before going behind for another goal-kick.
Somehow, it was still 5-0 at the halfway stage of a game well controlled by young match official Chris McGregor but shortly after the restart Jason Coyle scored to put Leith Athletic 6-0 in front.
The home side looked almost unstoppable and Coyle added another to make it 7-0.
The Leith No.14 player, who only came on at the start of the second half, completed his hat-trick with a rocket of a shot from 20 yards out to make it 8-0.
Meanwhile, Ryan Ward, wearing the No.8 jersey fired shot after shot at Jones in a bid to get in on the goal-scoring act for the home side, but he was out of luck in this game. His time will come in other games this season.
Another excellent prospect in the Leith line-up was Scott Wilson, who was in stunning form on the left for the home side. Wilson did not feature among the goal-scorers in this game, but he is a superb young player and did all the work to set up Kneeshaw to score the last goal of the game to make it 9-0 for Leith.
There was praise for the visiting side from Leith spokesman, Mark Muirhead, who said: "Bonnyrigg were very sporting and they deserve credit for that. We have strengthened our squad this season and all the players realise they are first team players.
A watching Hibs FC scout also commented: "Leith Athletic are a very good team. One of the best I have seen in this age group."
Leith Athletic now go on to play AC Oxgangs in the first round of the Scottish Youth FA Challenge Cup away from home.
Leith Athletic: Reece Smail, Lloyd McGee, Billy Foreman, Sean Murphy, Marc Kustra, Keiran Muirhead, Gavin Kneeshaw, Ryan Ward, Brendan Edwards, Jake Harper, Scott Wilson, Harvey McIntosh, Jason Coyle, Sean Melvin, Conway Hunter.
Bonnyrigg Rose: Connor Jones, Andrew Fairley, Danny Duffy, Greg Atkinson, Adam Burton, Calum Davidson, Calum Murray, Connor Norris, Ryan Campbell, Michael Frame, Mark Kean, Frazer Wilson, Stuart McKay, Taylor Halliday.
Referee: Chris McGregor.
The full article contains 769 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
