■Cramond captain Dayle Stewart slots home his side's first goal from the penalty spot

Cramond survived an unlikely late scare to win this Steve Maskrey Cup match at sun-drenched Leith Links this afternoon.

Cruising at 3-0 they eventually succumbed to the aerial threat posed by Leith all afternoon and conceded two goals in the final 4 minutes. But they held on to edge through by the odd goal.

An outstanding defensive performance from Cramond was the foundation for their success and once they got their noses in front they could have run away with this match. Time and again they exploited gaps in the Leith rearguard as the hosts went in search of the goals to get themselves back into this match.

But Leith will look back on the controversial early second half penalty decision that went against them as the turning point in a cracking cup match.

Once again, a swathe of postponed matches was evident across grassroots football in Edinburgh by a system that cancels pitches 48 hours ahead of use with no regard for weather in the intervening period. Mid and East Lothian fixtures seemed to be more or less fulfilled. Maybe it hasn't been raining there or maybe they have a more constructive approach to enabling sport to be played by thousands of their citizens each week.

Whatever the reason, Leith Links was certainly more than playable. Indeed spectators were able to sit and watch on the grass in the warm summer sunshine. There wasn't much to warm them up on the field in the first half however as these two sides played out the first 40 minutes in stalemate.

It was a strange half. To the casual observer Leith would have seemed to have been the side that was dominating and yet Cramond's goalkeeper, Andrew Munro, barely had a save to make. Colts did show a lot of verve with Fraser Andrews prompting things from the middle of the park and big Connor Bremner showing good movement up front. But clear chances were at a premium.

The closest Leith came to opening the scoring was in the 24th minute when an excellent move that involved Bremner and Stuart Adams ended with Munro palming the ball away to safety from a stinging drive by Mcry Dbordevic.

And Connor Bremner should have done better than blast wildly over the bar from close range after a fantastic 50 yard cross field ball from Connor Inglis.

These two chances apart, Leith's main threat was aerial with Sean Elvin the main target man at corners and free kicks but Munro dealt brilliantly with everything that came his way.

Cramond were more efficient in the chance department and were unlucky not to go ahead on two occasions. Firstly, in the 11th minute, the industrious Jonathon Kay chased down a poor passback and Danny Schneeberger's clearance ricocheted off the Cramond striker and went just inches past the open goal.

Then on 21 minutes, Fraser McKinlay's near post header from a corner shaved the outside of the left hand post.

But that was about it for the first half. Fairly even overall with midfields and defences on top. Connor Bremner's frustrations at this boiled over just before half time when he gave unwise "directions" to referee Tam Carter. The man in lobster red flashed an angry yellow.

Half Time 0-0

A game of two halves indeed. Where the first was frustratingly stale the second overflowed with goals and chances aplenty.

Just three minutes had gone when Cramond were awarded a penalty for a poor tackle on the left edge of the box. It was close to the box but not in it and Tam Carter's point to the spot was met with incredulous cries from the Leith touchline.

Cramond captain Dayle Stewart was undeterred and he stepped up to beat Schneeberger with a low drive to the goalkeeper's left.

This goal led to an aerial bombardment of the Cramond goal as Leith forced a succession of corners but Cramond stood firm and in 49 minutes they had two great chances to extend their lead. First up was a terrific run from the right touchline by Stewart but he shot weakly at the crucial moment. Then Jonathon Kay laid the ball back into the path of Grant Fraser but his shot was saved well by Schneeberger.

But the visitors went further ahead on 53 minutes with a very well executed goal. Cramond were awarded a free kick on the right hand touchline mid-way inside the Leith half. Dayle Stewart was the provider with an excellent, teasing and curling ball into the danger area. Sam Donald twisted his body to power home a terrific header into the roof of the net from 8 yards.

Suddenly Leith were chasing the game and the revised formation left big gaps at the back. Dayle Stewart was first to exploit this when he was sent clear but shot wildly over the bar. Then at the other end Sean Elvin's head connected with the ball again and this time he went closest so far as his effort bounced just inches wide of the post.

But Leith's desire to get back into the game proved their downfall as Cramond went three up on the hour mark. This time Dayle Stewart made no mistake as he collected the breakaway ball on the left. He cut inside and hit a low shot that squirmed under the goalkeeper's dive to the right and nestled in the back of the net.

It looked like it was game over. Leith threw everything they could but the Cramond back four of Calum McCulloch, Scott Butler, Daniel Shaw and Dennis Chakonda were quite brilliant. Stopping crosses coming in, slide tackling of the last ditch variety and clearing corners with heads, thighs and feet. And when they weren't able to help then Andrew Munro's gloved hands were on hand to keep the nil score intact.

This was exemplified on 70 minutes when Leith's Ethan Smith looked certain to score inside the six yard box. But as he wound up to shoot Fraser McKinlay and Daniel Shaw combined to thwart him and even won a goal kick as their sliding tackle rebounded off the Leith player.

Then, just as the picnic hampers were being packed up and thoughts turning to the coming week, Cramond capitulated. On 76 minutes a free kick from Stuart Adams was flicked into the far corner of the net by Connor Inglis who got to the ball a millisecond before Andrew Munro at the front post.

Great consolation goal, or so we thought.

A minute later and it was 3-2. Great wing play on the right saw Ethan Smith nod the ball home into an empty net as the floated ball evaded the boys in blue.

Suddenly it was the Cramond touchline that was apprehensive. Regular cries of "take your time" came to the fore. They were heeded and the visitors saw the 80 minutes plus 3 minutes of injury time out without too much further trouble to go through to the next round. But with more than a bit of relief.