WHEN ‘the going got tough’ for the crack Musselburgh Windsor under-16s in their City Financial Edinburgh Eastern Region Cup final against Broxburn Colts, the East Lothian combine raised their game to produce a wonderful second-half performance that produced four goals at the lovely stadium in Hallhill. And, believe me, Windsor had to come out with renewed energy in the second period of this excellent final at New Countess Park as the West Lothian side had matched them in every part of the pitch in a free-flowing first half of good cup tie football.

The sides were very evenly matched in the first half, with great action at both ends of the pitch. It took a quite magnificent save from Windsor keeper, Steven Greens, to deny the Broxburn side a goal in the build-up to the half-time break. But there were chances at both ends of the pitch and Colts keeper, Kevin Ferguson, also looked in cracking form, particularly when denying Kris Renton on two separate occasions with brilliant blocks when coming off his goal-line. At the other end, Mark Stevenson saw a wonderful shot swerve wide of the post and somehow or other the  sides were still locked at 0-0 when referee, Peter Morris, blew for half-time.

The big players on both sides had put everything in to this final and they fully deserved a break, but it was Musselburgh Windsor that shot off the starting blocks in the second half, with brilliant passing moves that opened up the West Lothian outfit’s defence and, when Renton, fired home the opener in the second minute after the restart, there was only going to be one winner of this game – Musselburgh Windsor. This very good squad in the Windsor colours have, virtually, been there, seen and done it all and they have the T-shirts to prove it, after winning the Scottish Cup last season and a huge list of trophies in their time together.

Their relentless attacks on the Colts goal in the second half yielded three more goals. Mark Moncrieff, who looked in tremendous form for the Musselburgh side, scored their second counter of the game, managing to regain control of the ball in a crowded goalmouth – after appearing to have lost it – before smacking a low shot past Ferguson to make it 2-0. The Colts were firing blanks at the other end of the pitch, when being awarded free-kicks in good positions. They did not get one on target to bother Greens, however. Darren Flynn had a great run and shot to keep up the pressure on the Colts side with Renton’s attempt to lob the keeper ending with the ball slipping wide of the post.

Then Daryl Curran went down in the box but the well-placed referee waved play on as the ball went behind for a corner against the Colts. More goals looked to be on the cards for the confident Windsor side and it was substitute Dale Murray who created it, with excellent skill giving him space on the right to send the ball across the face of the goal for big Nathan Moncrieff to score from about 1yd out.

To complete a stunning second-half performance, Michael Fruish got his head to a corner to send the ball flying in to the back of the Colts net to make the final scoreline 4-0 in Musselburgh Windsor’s favour. The score was rather unkind to Broxburn Colts considering the quality of their play in the first half. They looked to have a good team in the making, with good organisation and coaching from the touchlines. The impressive Mark Stevenson, in particular, had a very good game for the Broxburn side.

Meanwhile, Kris Renton, who won the Player-of-the-Match award from Brenda Rennie of Edinburgh City Youth FC who sponsored these awards, and skipper Paul (Pablo) McLean will be leaving Windsor in the summer to join Norwich City FC. They will continue their respective careers with the English club with the best wishes of everyone in the Eastern Region Youth FA.

Musselburgh Windsor – Steven Greens, Michael Fruish, Mark Moncrieff, Danny Taylor, Keir Anderson, Paul McLean, Peter Finlay, Cameron Olton, Darren Flynn, Kris Renton, Blair Montgomery, Lewis Mein, Nathan Moncrieff, Paul McGeechan, Chris Smith, Dale Murray and Ewan Skinner.

Broxburn Colts –  Kevin Ferguson, Alastair Walker, Craig Jenkins, Andrew Williamson, Craig Edwards, Jordan Dale, Liam Whyte, Callum McKenzie, Steven Devaney, Mark Stevenson, Darren Holdsworth, Kenny Gilmour, Jamie Milne, Jack Ventham, James Ryce, Chris Love, Rory McPherson, Jason Leitch, Gary Smith, Scott Fairley

Referee l- Peter Morris.