TYNECASTLE East under-13s outshot Leith Athletic in a penalty-decider to a wonderful Peter O’Neill Cup final at Olive Bank in Musselburgh. This final, the last of the season in this age-group was another stunning example of how good football at this level can be and it was the Tynecastle outfit that were celebrating when emerging as 4-2 winners in a nail-biting spot-kick finale to a fantastic wee game of football.

The sides were locked at 3-3 after extra time and with a big crowd of fans from both sides anxiously watching from the sidelines, the character testing penalty shoot-out in the blazing sun at Musselburgh Athletic’s lovely stadium went ahead. Tynecastle went 1-0 with Jamie Anderson tucking his shot away magnificently. Big Dale O’Hara made it 1-1 with an equally well-taken spot-kick. With the tension mounting, Jack Ramage rammed his shot in to the Leith net to make it 2-1 for Tynecastle. In an emotionally charged-atmosphere, Kayne Paterson burst in to tears when his well-struck penalty hit the right hand post. Gavin Pettigrew then made no mistake from the spot to fire Tynecastle in to a 3-1 lead, and that was followed by Kris McLaughlin firing home his penalty to make it 3-2. Leith keeper, Paul Grant, brought off a great diving save to his right to stop Scott Aitken’s shot from going in to the net, keeping the score at 3-2 in favour of Tynecastle. All eyes were on Mark Scott as he stepped up, agonisingly,  to take his turn in the spotlight and the Leith Athletic youngster collapsed in tears when his shot smashed against the crossbar. It was then left to Tynecastle skipper Conor Horribine to secure the cup with the winning penalty to make it 4-2, leaving the Tynecastle players and their coaches to celebrate enthusiastically.

I have said this many times before and I am saying it again, but this is no way for an under-13 cup final to be decided. For the life of me, I cannot see anything wrong in both teams sharing the cup. Surely it is not right for young footballers to be exposed to this form of pressure in front of a big crowd? Certainly not, in my opinion. This rule, and several others, should apply only to adult football and not to the game at youth level.

This was a tremendous game before the penalty decider, with Tynecastle East deservedly leading 3-1 at the half-way stage. They opened the scoring with a goal hailed as ‘the best header I have e ever seen from a boy at this age’ by watching, and admiring, Lochend Boys Club coach, Ricky Millar. This sensational goal came in the 5^th minute when Paul Fergie, one of the best players on the pitch at Olive Bank, crossed from the left and Tynecastle No 9, Scott Aitken, met the ball perfectly with his head just inside the 18yd box and the ball screamed past the diving Paul Grant in to the Leith net. It was an incredible header from this young player and the Leith side were given a bit of run-a-round for the rest of the first half by the rampant Tynecastle outfit. The second goal came from the impressive Fergie when he homed in on the Leith goal to send a great lob over the outrushing Grant to make it 2-0.

Leith managed to break through at the other end to reduce the deficit to 2-1 with O’Hara scoring the first of his three goals with a crashing shot past opposition keeper, Graham McEwan. That goal came in the 30^th minute and Tynecastle restored their two-goal lead a minute later, Fergie showing his fearsome shooting power with a wonderful shot from the edge of the 18yd box that Grant could not stop. The Leith keeper saved two other certain goals, showing excellent handling to deny Aitken, again, and Tynecastle skipper, Conor Horribine. At the start of the second half, it was the Leith combine that came out fighting for survival and what a game they made of it. In the 19^th minute of the second half, O’Hara scored again for Leith, getting to a rebound when Tynecastle keeper, Danny Duffy, parried a great shot from Greg Douglas, to fire the ball in to the net from 1yd out to make it 3-2.

The passionate response from O’Hara’s team-mates was equalled by that emanating from the Leith fans on the touchlines. With the Tynecastle goal under increasing pressure, Kris McLaughlin hit the bar following a corner and it was really a desperate tjme for the under-fire Tynecastle defence. The temperature went up through the roof when Mark Scott went down in the Tynecastle box and, after what seemed like an agonising delay, match official Len Blackie, awarded a spot-kick to Leith. O’Hara slammed the ball in to the Tynecastle net to complete his hat-trick and level the game at 3-3.

At that stage, no-one really knew what would follow as the game had been ‘turned on its head’! Tynecastle regrouped, however, and closed ranks at the back and the game ended at 3-3. Surprisingly, there were no more goals in extra time and that took the game to the fateful penalty decider. It ceased to be a football game at that stage and became nothing more that a lottery. Tynecastle proved to have the winning ticket on this occasion and this lovely young football-playing side went on to win their first trophy of the season. On reflection, they deserved their success on their first half-showing and their ability to score from the spot.

It was wonderful, also  to see the joy and happiness among the Tynecastle players well after the game was finished. They did not appear to want to leave Olive Bank and several of them even celebrated their triumph with one of the famous pies served up at Olive Bank by the Musselburgh Athletic stalwart, Hugh Ferguson! Leith Athletic picked up the runners-up prizes to go with their winners medals won the previous week when they beat Hutchison Vale in another tremendous final.

Tynecastle East FC – Daniel Duffy, Paul Keiller, Jamie Anderson, Conor Horribine, Calum Donaldson, Jack Ramage, Gavin Pettigrew, Danny Hubbard, Scott Aitken, Paul Fergie, Craig Robertson, Ryan Russell, Grant Stuart, Stuart Duncanson, Calum Dalgliesh.

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

Referee – Len Blackie.