How did they manage that? Well, you had to be there to see the game to see how luck can swing one way, then the other, and Cavalry Park must have left the ground still wondering about how Dunedin Boys Club's third goal was allowed to stand. This was a magnificent wee game of cup football and it was another time for me to appreciate my neutral stance as a reporter.

I would have hated to be in the Cavalry Park at the injustice at the goal that came after they had put the ball out for a shy to allow one of the Dunedin players to be treated for a knock. When the throw in was taken, it was clearly meant to go to the Cavalry Park keeper, but the home side's Jordan Currie it was who controlled the ball and calmly slotted it in to the visitors' goal to make the score 3-3 at a vital stage in the game. The referee had to give a goal, I suppose, to Dunedin, but the home side's coaches could have 'repaired' the damage by telling their side to allow Cavalry Park to go straight from the kick off to score at the other end. That did not happen, so a sense of injustice did prevail in the visiting ranks.

These things happen, however,  and it was Dunedin that went on to book their place in the next round of the national competition for the under-13 age group. The visiting side made the better start to this tie on one of the lovely prepared pitches at Wardie and Dunedin struggled to contain the Cavalry Park attacks.

The home side were aided in this by a magnificent display by goalkeeper, Kieran Davidson, who was positively immense throughout the game. In an all-action end-to-end start to the contest, the first goal came in the 26th minute and it was created for Dunedin by Callum Mein on the left wing, with a good cross for James Robertson heading the ball over the outrushing Cavalry Park keeper to open the scoring.

And it was 2-0 shortly after, with Mein again showing great ability to send over another cross from the left for Christopher Keppie to knock the ball in to the net to make it 2-0. Cavalry Park hit back minutes later, reducing the deficit to 2-1 when the unmarked Michael Bodick opened the account for his side. When another ball was played over the Dunedin defence, Cavalry Park's Callum Hoos used his speed to outpace the defenders before lobbing the ball over Davidson to make it 2-2.

The home side survived a great deal of pressure and it was still all square at the half-time whistle. On the restart, the visiting side still controlled the game and went in front for the first time when Ian Gilmore finished off a tremendous run up the right with a fierce shot that eluded the Dunedin keeper to put Cavalry Park 3-2 ahead.

Then came the incident when Mein went down in a challenge after a quite wonderful display of close control that took him through the heart of the visiting defence before being tackled. The ball broke free and the Cavalry Park coaches shouted to their players to put the ball out of play. They duly followed this advice and, after treatment, Mein managed to play on. But when the ball was thrown back in, it was Currie who picked it up to score.

The visiting side lost their way a wee bit after that unfortunate incident and they were hard pushed to keep Dunedin from going back in front. But the next goal came at the other end and it was Gilmore again who scored at the second attempt to put his side 4-3 up and it looked as if that would be enough for Cavalry Park to win the game.

It wasn't! Bruce Walkingshaw missed an easy chance that would have put the visitors 5-3 ahead, and with time running out, it was the magnificent Dunedin side that produced a finish they will remember for a long time to come. Their brilliant No 7, Mein, hammered home the equaliser and to complete a remarkable recovery, Robertson scored a late, late winner to seal a remarkable 5-4 victory. It was an eventful game in every respect and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the action unfold. It was tough luck, indeed, on Cavalry Park, but Dunedin never gave up and their finishing burst was magnificent.

Dunedin Boys Club - Kieran Davidson, Sean Davidson, Gregory Donnett, Daniel Robertson, Sam Warrot, James Robertson, Callum Mein, Christopher Keppie, James Singh, Jordan Currie, Dale Kerr, Alistair Rae, Callum Baird.