■ Lewis Kerr sweeps the ball home to give Tynecastle an early lead at the new Spartans Football Academy

Spartans secured an unlikely victory courtesy of 2 late goals from Elliot Mitchell at the fabulous new Spartans Academy facility at Ainslie Park.

Tynecastle had the better chances in this match but a combination of good goalkeeping and not so good finishing came back to haunt them in the final 12 minutes of the game. The winning goal came from the penalty spot just 4 minutes from the end of a very good football match.

With another weekend card all but wiped out throughout grassroots football in the Edinburgh area, six consecutive matches went ahead on the new 3G facility at the newly opened Academy. This kind of facility must be the blueprint for replication across Edinburgh and indeed Scotland. It isn't just the pitch but the warm up areas, clubrooms and dressing room areas that are all highly professional. And you could see the impact it had on the young players, even during their pre-match warm up. You felt they were upping their routines ahead of the big game.

It beggars belief that clubs such as Tynecastle, Hutchison Vale, Edinburgh City, Salvesen, Leith Athletic and Musselburgh Windsor at the very least cannot access facilities of this nature for the thousands of children who pass through their ranks every year. And there should also be facilities of this kind for the smaller clubs who can share for the better good of football. The 3G pitch at Saughton is a start. But it is just that. A pitch. Imagine what else could be done with that venue and Sighthill, Leith Links, Drum Brae, Inverleith, Meggetland, Wardie, Warriston and others. It would be great to see Hutchison Vale advancing discussions with Edinburgh Academy to build a joint facility at the excellent Arboretum venue.

There is certainly more of a chance now that Craig Graham's vision is in place for all to see and witness. It is no longer just a piece of paper or a powerpoint presentation. It can now be seen and felt. And others will want to have a similar opportunity.

On arrival the U14's were in preparations for their 11am kick off. Spartans were using the large warm up area behind the goal on the 3G. Tynecastle had use of the 5 a side pitch to the rear of the clubrooms. As the U12 game ended the players moved onto the main arena ready to start. Simple, non-stop use of a facility that will see even greater use under floodlights during the week. A facility that will undoubtedly lead to better football players.

Perhaps Spartans were in awe of their new surroundings for it was the away side that took the game to their hosts in the opening 20 minutes and deservedly took the lead after fourteen with an excellently worked goal. Bradley Cairns and Daniel Melville combined before cutting the ball back across the face of the goal for Lewis Kerr to side foot home past the stranded Keiran Davidson in the Spartans goal.

Prior to this, man of the match Jamie Pearce had twice opened up the home defence. The first with a well taken free kick that went deep into the box and was saved at the second attempt by the ever impressive Davidson. And then he threaded a wonderful pass through the middle into the path of  Daniel Melville who shot just wide of the right hand post.

In between this Spartans saw a Jesper Price cross hit the top of the Tynecastle bar before being gathered at the feet of Thomas Doherty by Mark Hurst.

It was a lively start to the match with some excellent interplay in midfield and the two number 4's Rharidh Smith and David Gebbie playing leading roles defensively and in setting up attacks from deep.

Spartans hit the bar again after 22 minutes when Elliot Mitchell's shot crashed of the woodwork before being cleared away for a corner. Mitchell had a further chance when a great sweeping end to end move released the Spartans' player on the right channel but he hit his shot high over the bar and the opportunity was gone.

A minute before half time referee Andy Moyes flashed straight red cards to Daniel Graves and Ross Wilcox. The Tynecastle player mis-timed his tackle on Wilcox as he reached the ball at full speed ahead of Graves and his momentum sent him flying. The Spartans player reacted angrily pushing Graves in the chest and the referee called both of them over. First to go was Graves which I felt was an incorrect call and probably wouldn't have been any more than a yellow had it not been for the Spartans' player's reaction. And then Wilcox was sent packing correctly for raising his hands.

It was a disappointing end to what had been a terrific match up until that point.

Half Time 0-1

The second 35 minutes started the same way the first period had with Tynecastle pressing. Two thunderous free kicks from captain Jamie Pearce had Spartans on the back foot immediately. The first whistled inches over and the second crashed back of the bar from fully 25 yards.

Spartans made a brief foray up the other end and Peter Reilly probably should have done better than prod the ball past the left hand post after he was released inside the box by Thomas Doherty.

On 55 minutes, Daniel Melville stole the ball of Elliot Mitchell and drove towards goal but just when he looked set to double Tynie's lead he stabbed his shot past the left hand upright and Spartans' one goal deficit remained intact.

They made the most of that miss just moments later when Elliot Mitchell scored an equalising goal out of the blue. He collected the ball on the right edge of the box before hitting a lobbed shot that drifted past Mark Hurst and nestled in the bottom left hand corner of the net.

Back came Tynecastle, and it was Jamie Pearce that was in the thick of the action again. This time on the left where he squared the ball back across goal. It was dummied by Fraser Johnston before being met with a vicious right footed drive by Darren Gold. But Keiran Davidson was equal to the quality of the move when he threw himself at his left hand post to turn the shot past for a corner. A magnificent save.

Tynecastle then produced the move of the match. Jamie Pearce started things off as he played Fraser Johnston down the right. He side stepped a defender before cutting the ball onto the penalty spot where centre forward Daniel Melville was lurking in acres of space. He looked set to restore his side's lead but he got under the ball and sent it flying over the bar, much to the dismay of his team-mates.

Tynecastle were made to pay for that miss, and the others in this game, when Spartans scored a winning goal with just 4 minutes remaining. Robbie Shepherdson was upended in the box and Elliot Mitchell calmly stroked the ball past Mark Hurst from the resultant spot kick to give the home side all three points at their new surroundings.

As the players exchanged hand shakes in the centre of the pitch the Spartans U19's took to the field for the next game as the 3G carousel continued at the Academy.