■ Dylan Cotton gets his head onto Daniel Melville's inch perfect cross to complete his first half hat-trick

Dylan Cotton scored an excellent first half hat-trick in the space of 9 minutes to end Armadale's hopes of progressing in the South East Regional Cup. Up until Cotton scored his first goal on 23 minutes this game was fairly evenly balanced with the West Lothian side having gone closest with a Steven Russell thunderbolt that crashed off the underside of the Tynecastle bar.

However once they went ahead there was no stopping Tynecastle as their much bigger physical stature told the longer the game went on. The sight of the opposing number 17's told it's own story with Tynecastle's Mickie French looking as if he could have taken part in the adjoining Sunday amateur game whilst Armadale's tricky winger Martin Begg wouldn't have looked too out of place in a soccer sevens game!

In the end, Tynecastle were worthy winners and progress into the second round where they will meet either Duns Juniors or AC Oxgangs Colts.

Summer had finally arrived in Edinburgh with sunshine bathing the pitch for this game between two teams from the South East and West Lothian Youth leagues. The early exchanges didn't match the temperature however as both sides found it difficult to make any immediate headway. Wee, green booted, Martin Begg and Daniel Melville were most prominent during the opening period with runs down either right flank but chances were few and far between.

The game sprung into life on 13 minutes when Steven Russell collected the ball just inside the 18 yard box before twisting and turning and unleashing a magnificent strike that crashed down off the underside of the bar before being cleared away for a corner. It was a terrific bit of skill from the Armadale forward and one that was deserving of a goal.

The visiting Armadale "army" of mostly mums were then awoken from their Sunday slumber by the sound of the Sighthill flats crashing to the ground although from the perplexed looks on their faces they must have wondered if something more serious was afoot to the west of the city. 10 minutes later and with the westerly wind taking hold they were soon brushing dust from their locks as a cloud of debris worked its way across the city.

Perhaps it was the awakening that the Tynie boys were looking for as from this point on they went onto dominate this game.

On 22 minutes, Daniel Melville was sent clear in the right channel but Robbie MacDonald was quick off his line and although Melville's shot beat the outrushing goalkeeper it also missed the right hand upright.

A minute later and the home side took the lead. Dylan Cotton collected the ball on the left edge of the box and hit a high looping shot that beat the back peddling MacDonald and nestled in the top right hand corner of the net.

4 minutes later and it was 2-0. This time Dylan Cotton's shot was at best speculative but the Armadale number one made his only error of an otherwise solid afternoon between the sticks when he let the bouncing ball slip from his grasp and fall into the empty net.

Suddenly, from nowhere, Tynecastle found themselves two up and they went further ahead three minutes before half time with the game's best goal. Daniel Melville did well yet again on the right wing and he sent in a wonderful cross that was met by the head of the onrushing Dylan Cotton who made no mistake in sending the ball into the back of the net. It was a great finish to an excellent 9 minutes for the Tynecastle player as he completed a quick fire hat-trick.

Half Time 3-0

Armadale were up against it as they re-took to the field for the second 35 minutes. A breezy headwind combined with them attacking up the slight incline didn't augur well especially when you took into a account the relative sizes of the two squads. And so it was to prove correct as the West Lothian side struggled to make any real second half impact with the remainder of this game being played almost exclusively in the Armadale half.

There were only 2 minutes on the second half clock when Tynecastle should have made it four. Daniel Melville was straight through but his well hit shot from just right of the goal was well saved by Robbie MacDonald.

Then moments later Craig Perry's vicious looking shot blazed just inches over the bar with the goalkeeper beaten. Melville did have the ball in the back of the net shortly afterwards but it was ruled out for offside.

The home side were looking increasingly strong and confident and started to play some good passing football. Armadale by contrast were finding it hard to move the ball into the Tynecastle half and when they did the smaller forwards were struggling to make an impact against their bigger opponents.

But it took Tynecastle until the 63rd minute before they could add to their lead. Daniel Melville chased down a through ball and as he and goalkeeper, Robbie MacDonald, jostled for the 50/50 ball it spun out wide to the lurking Lyle Cantley. He steadied himself before coolly slotting the ball home from the right hand corner of the box past the desperate lunges of the backtracking defenders. A great finish.

In the final minute, big Mickie French rounded off things with a goal that proved to be a metaphor for this game. The giant Tynecastle forward held off at least 4 tired Armadale challenges inside the box before shooting high past MacDonald to make it 5-0. Another good finish from Colts and a scoreline that probably just about reflected their superiority in this game albeit the visitors did well until going behind.