TYNECASTLE FC striker, Rory Burton set the ball rolling when he scored in his side’s first attack on the Loanhead MWBC goal in the under-14 Kenny McLean Cup final at Easter Road and what was an impossible task for the Midlothian club prior to the start, then became a totally insurmountable hurdle for them to overcome.

This Tynecastle side have improved beyond recognition from the beginning of the season and they went on to add this prestigious piece of silverware to this season’s haul with a display of modern, powerful running and organised football that Loanhead could not match. The final score of 6-0 for Tynecastle could have been even wider such was the dominance of this quite superb under-14 outfit whose home base is in Saughton Park. Loanhead played beautiful passing football but the slow build-up and individual skills of the Midlothian outfit were easily countered by the big Tynecastle defenders.

This game was played on Hibs’ marvellous pitch at Easter Road and, with an almost carnival atmosphere among the spectators in the main stand, it was Tynecastle that went on to dominate the proceedings. Whenever Loanhead managed to get better of the Tynecastle defenders, they ran in to an inspired young keeper in Kenneth Brown. He ensured his side finished with a clean sheet, with well-stuck free-kicks giving him slight problems in the first half of the game played on a lovely summer’s night! Up front, the pace and power of Burton and ‘Player-of-the-Match’ winner, Ben McKenzie, was just too much for the brave Loanhead defenders to handle.

Things looked really ominous for the Loanhead team when McKenzie added a second for Tynecastle shortly after Burton’s opening strike. The game was as good as over when Burton made it 3-0 at a time when some spectators were still coming in to the stadium. Loanhead, urged on by a big number of younger players in their club tracksuits in the stand, fought back bravely with Jamie Murray showing lovely football skills when taking on his bigger opponents. But the formidable Tynecastle rearguard set up a defensive wall that Loanhead found impossible to break down. To their credit, however, the Midlothian kids prevented their opponents from adding to the 3-0 scoreline by the time excellent match official, Tom Carter, blew for half-time.

In a lively start to the second half, Loanhead produced lovely passing moves, but they all broke down when they got as far as the Tynecastle 18yd line and any hope of a fightback was well and truly extinguished when McKenzie scored the goal of the game to make it 4-0. And what a goal it was from the young powerhouse of a player on the right wing at that stage. When a long pass was played up to the right of the half-way line, McKenzie had it under control with a great first touch and he then set off at a pace that took him beyond the backtracking Loanhead defence, powering his way up to the right of the 18yd box and he finished off his run with a magnificently struck right-foot shot that almost ripped the goalnet off its’ stauchions.

Loanhead goalkeeper, Chris Matear, was lucky he did not get in the way of the ball but it is doubtful if he even saw it, anyway, as it ripped past him. This was an awesome goal from McKenzie. Tynecastle brought on their subs to give them a run, but the pressure on Loanhead was only briefly lifted, with Brown having to produce good saves to deny both Michael Hunter and Darren Clapperton the chance of a consolation goal. In another excellent break from Tynecastle, the hard-working Ryan D’Angelo scored with a very clever header from outside the Loanhead keeper’s right-hand post, after his first shot was blocked by Matear. D’Angelo kept running and he was first to the ball as it spun up in to the air, gently heading it over Matear’s outstretched arms in to the far side of the net.

That increased Tynecastle’s winning margin to 5-0 and in a final assault on the luckless Matear’s goal, McKenzie completed his hat-trick with a header going in to the net off the inside of the post to make the final scoreline 6-0. Loanhead deserve praise for the way they kept playing their passing game and as they get older – bigger and stronger – this short passing game they favour will get snappier and quicker and that will produce more goals for them. Meanwhile, Tynecastle have improved, immeasurably so, and they are an example of a modern, powerful, skilful and quick-moving football team. They are, indeed, a team with all the style and attributes of a football team in the modern game of the 21^st century – and the Tynecastle players are all under 14 years of age!

Tynecastle FC – Kenneth Brown, Ryan Hall, Connor Armstrong, Calvin Smith, Keith Millar, Jordan Fyvie, Ryan D’Angelo, Ben McKenzie, Anton McKillop, Liam Riordan, Lewis Turner, Tom Sanderson, Kevin Taylor, Jack Cree, James Elliot, Andrew Sinclair, Rory Burton, Stewart Thomson.

Loanhead MWBC – Chris Matear, Ryan McQueenie, Tony Walker, Greg Young, Elliot Bathgate, Lewis Learmonth, Ali Adams, Michael Hunter, Jamie Murray, Darren Clapperton, Darren Jack, Marc Robson, Alex Murray, Calum Hunter, Douglas Hall, Bryan Young.

Referee – Tom Carter; assistants – William McKenzie, Alex Liston and Steven Cochrane.