THE Eastern Region Youth FA’s under-16 squad look to be on course for their third triumph in the Dunfermline Building Society Inter-Regional Trophy.
The squad at this age band has picked up the Trophy twice already at the Finals Day in the past two years at Paisley, but they received a fright when facing Ayrshire SW in last weekend’s semi-final at Ayr.
After a slow start, the Eastern Region t
ook the lead when, from a long throw-in from Brian Allison, Murray Fraser bulleted a header past the Ayrshire goalkeeper.
Ryan Campbell soon added a second when he took advantage of the Ayrshire goalkeeper’s failure to hold on to a shot and scored easily.
Worse was to follow for the Ayrshire goalkeeper when Ryan Flynn let fly from 25 yards out and the ball hit the underside of the crossbar and, as it came down, the ball hit the keeper’s legs to finish up in the net.
Ayrshire started the second half in determined mood and soon pulled level with three goals in the opening 20 minutes.
Sensing that they could now win the game, Ayrshire went in search of a fourth goal and after soaking up the pressure it was the Eastern Region who got their noses in front again with a tremendous goal from Jim Young ten minutes from time.
Picking the ball up in his own half, Young beat two players and shot from 20 yards across the keeper and into the far corner of the net. The Eastern Region held on for a thoroughly deserved win which puts them in the final against either Western Region or Central who play their semi-final on Saturday, March 27.
Eastern Region Youth FA under-16 squad: David Easton, Dean Clements, Brian Allison, Dayne Robertson, John Williams, Mark Ellis, Ryan Flynn (all Royston); Richard Campbell (Edina Hibs); Kevin Moffat, Murray Fraser, Sam Gibson, Steven Moncur (all Tynecastle FC); Ciaran Rooney (Hutchison Vale); Jim Young, Craig Givan, Dean Thomson (Leith Athletic).
THE under-14 East Region squad will face Inverclyde Region at Drumbrae Leisure Centre, tomorrow at 2.00pm.
Eastern Region Youth FA under-16 squad: David Duncan (Lochend YFC); Michael Andrews, Jamie Lackenbey, Jonathen Brown, Paul Watson, Daniel Galbraith, Paul Hanlon, Christopher Renton, Jamie Blair (all Hutchison Vale); Peter Finlay, Sean Eddington (both Inch Colts A); Daryl Curran (Musselburgh Windsor); Paul Coleman, Jamie Lipscombe, Sean Lally, Mark Cowan (all Salvesen BC).
Meanwhile, a double celebration took place at the Jack Kane Centre where Inch Colts played host to Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts in an under-13 Eastern Region Youth FA league game.
Inch Colts paraded their newly-acquired strips and tracksuits supplied by David Kent (Joinery) and Inverkeithing were celebrating coach Eddie Spence’s 40th birthday.
It did not take long for Inverkeithing to get into their stride and the Fife combine opened the scoring after only six minutes. The livewire Greig Spence was the beneficiary of a deflection as he slotted the ball home.
Inch Colts could do little to stem the excellent interplay between Inverkeithing’s forwards as their captain, Scott Durie, finished off a fine move by scoring the second.
Inverkeithing’s dominance of the first half was rounded off when Spence added his second of the game when he was left unmarked with only the goalkeeper to beat.
Although 3-0 down at half-time, Inch Colts refused to lie down in the second half.
They began to play with more belief and started to have the better chances and their play was rewarded on the hour mark when Keerin Davie managed to force the ball over the line after a good header from George Gibson came back off the crossbar.
Unfortunately for Inch Colts, their fine play was to be outdone and outshone by Inverkeithing’s Spence.
Having just got themselves back into the game, Inch Colts were to lose a goal within a minute as Spence lobbed the Inch Colts goalkeeper only to see the ball rebound off the crossbar. As the players ran towards the ball, the spin and bounce took it into the goal. Skill and luck - this lad had it all. He was to round off a memorable day by scoring another two goals, making his total for the day five, to take the final scoreline to 6-1.
An excellent match played in a sporting manner by both sides and expertly officiated by match referee Malcolm Stewart. To round off a memorable day for Inverkeithing, their coach, Eddie Spence, received a barrage of water bombs, eggs and flour!
Inch Colts: Andrew McQeen, Sean Reilly, Callum Conaghan, Niall O’Brien, Steven Kuczara, Steven Philp, Mark Bald, Keerin Davie, Blair McEwan, George Gibson, Alex Forbes, John Gemmel.
Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts: John Richie, Scott Durie, Andrew Tarvit, James Senior, Robbie Morris, Brogan MacDonald, Steven Slimmings, Scott Murray, Joe Milligan, Ryan Stephens, Greig Spence, Josh Morris, Lewis Brown, Stuart Simpson, Scott Houston, Billy Ferguson.
Referee: Malcolm Stewart.
The full article contains 841 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
