THE under-17 Victor Paris Bathrooms Cup final between Bonnyrigg Rose and Easthouses Boys Club at the lovely Olive Bank Stadium in Musselburgh was an example of competitive  football at its very best. Played in a wonderful atmosphere, much of which was created by the noisy and friendly big crowd of young people huddled together from the rain in the covered enclosure at Musselburgh Juniors stadium, these two young sets of players displayed quite magnificent standards of sportsmanship and skill on a miserable summer night!  Bonnyrigg, the underdogs, proved to be the better team on the night and it was they who lifted the silverware on a close, very close, 2-1 scoreline at the end of a great game. It is usual when reporting on a game to include the names of the players at the end, but not this time. These young  players deserve to be highlighted and here are the names of all those who boosted the image of themselves, their clubs and also the Eastern Region Youth FA to new heights.

Bonnyrigg – Andrew Jack (not only a good goalkeeper, but a good young SFA referee in to the bargain), Ben Sutherland, Neil Ross, Daniel Bennett, Stewart Davidson, Mark Stewart, Scott Robinson, Nathan (the hammer) McFie, James Steel, Gordon McBain, Daniel (magnificio) Blyth, Sean Jamieson, Darren Cornett, Kyle Lenaghen, Euan Muir, Jamie Boyle:

Easthouses – Jamie McQueen, David Arthur, Kris Steel, Scot Gilchrist, Alasdair Mackinnon, Graeme Young, David Gillan, Daniel Stewart, Kyle Brown, Paul McDermott, Danny Smith, Michael Chambers, John Howie, Mark Turnbull, Keith MacFarlane, Ross Reynolds.

The excellent referee for this game was Mike Smith.

From the start, this game was played in a totally positive manner with both sides committed to attack. Easthouses got off to a great  start and they lived up to their tag of ‘favourites’ when going 1-0 up in the 9^th minute with a cracking goal from Danny Smith, another of the many good players on view. All right so far, then, for Easthouses, but they were rocked, and shocked, when Bonnyrigg’s Nathan McFie delivered one of his ‘special’ free-kicks from fully 25yd out and the ball crashed past Jamie McQueen in the Easthouses goal low down to his right for a spectacular equaliser. McFie specialises in these set pieces and I have seen him score from similar positions while he was playing for Lasswade High School. Can this young player strike a dead ball? I’ll say he can!

The goalmouth incidents at both ends of the game continued non-stop, with wonderful saves from both Jack and McQueen well in to the second half of a great cup final. The Bonnyrigg defence, in particular, was nothing short of outstanding. They sat back and waited on Easthouses then hit on the break with McFie just off target with another cracking attempt at goal. As the pace of the game continued, it was Bonnyrigg that were the more dangerous of the two outfits and they played great passing football at times to create quick and dangerous attacks on the Easthouses goal. Shots rained in on McQueen and the magnificent goal that won Bonnyrigg the silverware duly came along – and it was a goal worthy of winning any cup final – scored by the player I thought was the most exciting of all on the pitch, Danny Blyth!
 

The Easthouses defenders were all over the place in another great attack up the right by Bonnyrigg and Blyth appeared on the 18yd line in front of goal to finish off a great  move with a brilliantly stuck left-foot piledriver of a shot that almost ripped the net from its stauchions in the 76^th minute.

That was the final goal of the game, but it was certainly not the end of the action or excitement.

Jack almost gifted Easthouses an equaliser when looking to be too casual in clearing a pass-back, but he recovered to clear and he can think himself very fortunate to escape in that heart-stopping moment for the Bonnyrigg contingent! All those watching the game were full of praise for the players at the finish, but the officials of both clubs were almost magnificent, going around shaking hands with their respective opponents on what was, essentially, a great night for football!

 The message to be taken from a game such as this is that football is, indeed, the greatest and most enjoyable team game in the world when both teams set out to play it in the most positive way possible and both Bonnyrigg and Easthouses did just that at Olive Bank in the Victor Paris Bathrooms Cup final! It was a pleasure to be there to see these teams in action! The spontaneous pitch invasion by the young Bonnyrigg fans at the finish was also in the best possible spirit and it was lovely to see them cavorting about celebrating – providing an even more enjoyable scene at the end of this cup final!