THE under-16 replay between Dalkeith YPC and Leith Athletic at Cowden Park did not match the quality of the first-round tie at Leith Links and the visiting side dominated the replay from start to finish, running out 7-1 winners to book their place in the draw for the next round.

The home side collapsed in every sense of the word in the last ten minutes of the replay and they were punished unmercifully for slack defending by the rampant Leith outfit. While the final scoreline was one that will caused anguish to the players in home side, there was never any doubt about the eventual winners of this replay from the very whistle from excellent match referee Tam Carter.

While Dalkeith were unrecognisable from the team that pushed Leith to the limit in their first meeting at Leith Links a couple of weeks ago, the visiting team were in magnificent form. the brilliant Lewis Martin, one of the top performers, scored the first goal of the game in the 9th minute when he pounced to take advantage of a defensive mistake to fire the ball in to the empty Dalkeith net. Surprisingly, that was the only goal of the first half and Dalkeith should consider themselves very lucky, indeed, to be trailing only 1-0 at the break.

Team boss, Alan Ferguson, has worked hard to get Dalkeith to play good football but his squad were in danger of being overwhelmed in this encounter. Their passing was not up to the same standard of the first meeting of the sides with none of the quick attacking moves that proved to be so effective in the great game at Leith Links. But the visitors were a changed side, too, for the better.

They gave Dalkeith a real pounding in the second half at Cowden Park with the deluge of goals starting with a great back post header from Paul Campbell. Michael Dommit added a third for Leith Athletic a few minutes later to put his side 3-0 up. In a brief fightback, the homesters reduced the deficit to 3-1 with a goal from Owen Lean who headed home a rebound off the Leith crossbar. That goal lifted Dalkeith and it they could have managed to beat visiting keeper, Rahath Tuffail again, the game could have been much closer.

But a second goal did not materialise and when Dommit headed home another goal to take the margin to 4-1 in Leith's favour, the home side virtually 'threw in the towel'! The rest of the game belonged in a sense to the goal-hungry Lewis Martin. He marked his outstanding contribution to the game with three more goals as the Dalkeith defence fell apart. Lewis made it 5-1 with a simple goal, given all the time he needed to slot the ball in the Dalkeith net, with the home defenders standing watching.

That was followed by another goal to take the score to 6-1 and before the final whistle, the young Leith superstar hammered home the final goal of the game to make it 7-1. I had to sit and watch this game due to a pain in my backside that is currently also affecting my right leg, but I am still trying to work out why this game did not match the first meeting of these two good teams. The pain inflicted on the Dalkeith coach in this game was much more than I was suffering!

Leith Athletic certainly played their part to the full, but Dalkeith were so much out of the game it was totally puzzling. They were a terrible disappointment on a day when they needed to play at the top of their form. Leith, on the other hand, were absolutely brilliant and they could have scored a few more, if it had not been for some excellent saves from Dalkeith's stand-in goalkeeper, Danny McWilliams.

Lewis Martin's dad must have watched his son rattle in five goals for Leith with some misgiving, too, as he has to pay out £5 a goal to this young sharp-shooter. By the look of things, Martin's goal-scoring exploits could cost his dad a fortune before the end of the season! If Lewis keeps rattling in the goals, it will be his dad who could be feeling the pain, too - as his wallet quickly empties!

Dalkeith CYP - Scott Bain, Craig Ferguson, Stephen Barrie, Jordan Waite, Steven Loughrie, Paul Hunter, Chris Dolan, Marc Marshall, Owen Lean, Chris East, Andrew Louden, Liam Grant, Danny McWilliams, Martin Brown, Derek Curran, Brian Fraser.

Leith Athletic - Rahath Tufail, James Robson, Murray Milligan, Neil Lowson, Greig Lowe, Paul Campbell, Anthony Marzipan, Lewis Martin, Michael Dommit, Leith McKenzie Darren Law, Stuart Lord, Chris Barrie, Blair Kerr, John Gemmell.