LEITH Athletic under-13s gave the toiling Hutchison Vale players a double dose of their ‘own medicine’ when beating them 4-2 in extra time to lift the Ken Ritchie Cup at Olive Bank – and the game was also for league points!

In truth, Vale were lucky to get away with only losing 4-2 and if Leith had taken even some of the great chances they created in a wonderful performance during the final, the game would never have gone to extra time! This was the second time in a few days that Leith have given Vale ‘a sore one’ in the run-in to the end of the season. In their previous meeting a few days before the final, Leith administered the second defeat of the season on Vale at Leith Links, knocking them out of the Peter O’Neill Cup in a 2-0 semi-final win.

But this smart young outfit wearing the famous black-and-white outfit of the Leith club trumped that win at Olive Bank in the final of one of the top domestic cup events in the Eastern Region Youth FA. Vale have had a wonderful season by any standards, winning the U13 Tesco Cup at Bolton and the Scottish Youth FA Cup at Airdrie, and it must be a strange feeling to be on the receiving end, indeed, over the last two games against Leith Athletic.

The Vale defenders had their hands full from the start of this wonderful game of football played in the sun. Most of the chances in the first half came at the Vale end of the pitch, with the eager young Leith players getting in about their opponents. Vale keeper, Connor McGrotty has spend most of the season watching his team-mates score goal after goal in a wonderul run, this time, however, it was the Livingston boys turn to show just how good a goalkeeper he really is. And Connor McGrotty was totally outstanding!

He made save after save to keep Vale from going behind and he watched as his team-mates stormed in to a totally undeserved 2-0 lead in the game, the first coming – against the run of play – from Chris McLeod in the first half. It must have been a real shock to the Leith boys to trail 1-0 at the half-way stage and it was an even bigger shock for them and their fans when Damian Orr broke free to set up McLeod to send an equisite shot over Leith keeper, Paul Grant, to make the score 2-0. For a short spell, Vale looked to have gained control of the game, but they were struggling in all areas of the pitch and Leith hit back in sensational style. Big Dale O’Hara made a spectacular impact on the game when he lashed the ball past McGrotty after a great run up the left to make it 2-1 near the end of the game. Leith won control of the ball again after the restart, and they laid seige to the Vale goal getting back on level terms, deservedly so, with five minutes left to play with Kris McLaughlin scoring at the second attempt after being denied by McGrotty to make it 2-2.

It was sheer bedlam among the Leith contingent as they encouraged their eager young side to press forward in search of the winner – and McGrotty was absolutely immense in the Vale goal. The game went in to extra time with the atmosphere at Olive Bank almost electric! And all the sparks came from the unstoppable Leith Athletic team from then on. O’Hara was swamped by his team-mates when he fired Leith ahead for the first time in the game to make it 3-2 and the final was as good as over for Vale.

While McGrotty was performing miracles in the Vale goal with one save in particular in the almost unbelievable category, he was beaten again by the rampant Leith attack, with McLaughlin sending over a perfect cross for O’Hara to complete his hat-trick and put Leith into an unassailable 4-2 winning lead.

If McGrotty had not produced another breath-taking finger-tip save from Kayne Paterson in the last minute, the winning margin could have been even worse. Vale coach, Malcolm McKenzie, blamed himself at the finish, saying: “I put our subs on when we went 2-0 up and it went wrong for us after that. I should possibly have been more careful but I wanted all the boys to have a run in the game!” However, there were no recriminations in the Leith ranks, and it was particularly good to see hard-working Leith club official, Colin Tomassi, with the trophy in his hands and a big smile on his face.

The work this man does for youngsters within the Leith Athletic club deserves a reward. Somehow, I think he got just such a reward at Olive Bank. And it could get even better for Colin and his fellow coaches this Sunday, when they are back in action Musselburgh to play Tynecastle East in the final of the Peter O’Neill Cup at 11.00am. In an all-Leith day at Olive Bank, the club’s under-15s take on Cavalry Park Colts in a League Cup final in the afternoon. Will the ‘Sun Shine on Leith’ two weeks in succession at Olive Bank? The answer to that will be revealed on Sunday in front of an expected even bigger crowd of Leithers!

Leith Athletic – Paul Grant, Alasdair Fleming, Greig Turnbull, Alan Murray, Greg Douglas, Liam Allison, Christopher Joyce, Connor Scott, Kristopher McLaughlin, Liam Tomassi, Dale O’Hara, Stuart Adams, Mark Scott, Michael Park, Kayne Paterson.

Hutchison Vale – Connor McGrotty, Cameron Scott, Michael Noble, Andrew Togneri, Jack Verth, Scott Coleman, Sean Joyce, Ryan Tennant, Chris McLeod, Kenny O’Brien, Jordan Thomson, Damian Orr, Chris Roxburgh, Stuart McGregor, Jack Blaikie, Conor Devaney.

*Another of the good features about this final at Olive Bank was the display of young teenage match official, James Campbell. This Castlevale High School pupil was immaculately turned out for the game and he matched that with a great display of control and decision making on the pitch.