Gorgie Hearts today played Longstone Welfare at Penicuik High School in the first of two games in 3 weeks between the clubs which in the end finished 2-2.

 

Longstone were the team who started the brightest creating a few quick chances however these were easily handled by the Gorgie defence. Then after around 10 minutes, just as Gorgie started to gain possession, a Longstone run down the left managed to get a shot away, which looked easily picked up by keeper Scotty Walker until centre back Chris Mac tried to help his keeper out but instead knocked it just too hard which saw it sail into his own net.

Despite this set back, Gorgie started to gain momentum and began to threaten the Longstone goal with a few chances from Andy Alexander and Paul Harvey. It really looked like it would only be a matter of time before Gorgie got the equaliser. Then after around 30 mins on the clock a driving run from Craig Watson opened up space in front of him and in a fantastic effort hit the ball from around 30 yards to go over the keeper and land in the back of the Longstone net.

It was most definitely game on now with a few half chances from both sides and although Longstone seemed to be winning the majority of high balls that came to them, Gorgie were doing very well to get the ball back and attack the opposition line.

As half time approached Gorgie seemed to have the edge when a throw in from Danny Blyth to Paul Harvey led to the forward playing a great ball through to Andy Alexander, who drove to the by line and despite the horrible under foot conditions he managed to provide a low cross into the box where Carlos Mendoza was waiting in the middle to slot the ball safely home to make it 2-1 at half time.

The second half began with Gorgie Hearts making their first substitution, taking Paul Harvey off and replacing him with new Spanish wonderkid Curro to make his debut.

The start of the half was played at the same tempo as the first with a lot of hard but fair tackles going in from both sides. Longstone were battling to get back into the game and Gorgie were looking to extend their lead. This led to Longstone hitting the crossbar and Gorgie midfielder Oli Li hitting a shot marginally wide.

Gorgie kept pushing and thought they had extended their lead when a corner kick came in to Daniel Blyth's feet a yard from an open net to balloon it over the bar.

What happened next was the most controversial point of the game when a scrap on the by line just inside the box led to the referee blowing for a penalty to the confusion of the Gorgie side. Despite diving the right way the penalty managed to beat the keeper and square the game once again.

After Longstone's second goal both sides seemed to slow. This was probably due to the very heavy conditions and both sides tiring quickly and as the game drew to a close both sides had a chance to win it with substitute Michael Stevenson looking clean through on goal until the ref blew for a extremely close offside decision and Longstone hitting the post from a long range effort.

As the blew for full time both sides and be happy with the way they performed in what was a game which saw some very hard but fair  tackling which was confirmed by the fact neither side saw a card. This sets up the President's Cup clash nicely in two weeks time which both teams will look forward to.