Leith Athletic produce sparkling performance to win League Cup

Published on Tuesday 15 June 2010 09:44

LEITH ATHLETIC'S under-19 outfit maintained their habit of blowing away the opponents in their many cup finals this season with a comprehensive rout of Tranent Juniors to clinch the South East Region under-19 Division 1 League Cup at Foresters Park.

Leith hit a quickfire treble in the dying minutes of the East Lothian clash to stretch an already unassailable lead to 6-0 and secure their fifth trophy of the season.

On a warm, dry evening in Tranent, neither side was able to settle sufficiently to produce any consistently flowing football. Leith, however, are seasoned cup finalists and certainly know the way to goal – and punished their opponents' slackness in defence with ruthless regularity.

Following an unfortunate own goal in the opening seconds of the game, Darren Lavery was the first Leith player to clear the path to goal on 12 minutes, beating Tranent left-back David Ross on the right before whipping a cross to the near post, where strike partner Willie Bremner glanced a header into the far corner past goalkeeper Ewan Fallon to make it 2-0.

At the same end five minutes later, Steven Lynch flashed a header over the crossbar from Lewis Tracey's corner as Leith put Fallon and his defence under relentless pressure.

Tranent had plenty of opportunity to build attacks of their own, but misplaced countless passes and struggled to retain possession for prolonged periods. It was some consolation to the underdogs, though, that their central defensive pairing of Euan Watters and Blair Murray learned to deal more effectively with the considerable threat of Athletic's front pairing of Bremner and Lavery as the first half wore on.

The former was limited to a single further chance, dragging his shot wide after breaking beyond Juniors' defence, while Lavery failed to connect properly with a couple of close-range efforts. With the heat continuing to affect the pace of the game, neither side showed great urgency as the second half got underway. That is, until Leith added to their advantage on 66 minutes. David Menzies skipped two challenges on the left and played the ball infield to Stephen Barrie, who quickly prodded it forward to Lavery inside the penalty area and he lashed a strike into the top left-hand corner.

Cameron Reynolds side-footed an effort high and wide to waste a chance that could have brought Tranent back into the game two minutes later, and thereafter it was Leith who continued to do all the forward running.

Lavery found himself with the goal at his mercy just three yards out, but the ball stuck under his feet after Tracey had flicked on Menzies' throw-in, and he skewed his shot wide.

In the final five minutes, Stephen Barrie, Neil Lowson, and Bremner all countered to add some polish to a dominant Leith performance.

The energetic Barrie burst on to a long ball and muscled through the challenge of defender Watters before arrowing a shot into the far right-hand corner on 85 minutes.

Two minutes later, skipper Lowson advanced from his customary defensive station to force the fifth goal after Stephen Barrie's corner was knocked down by Lynch, then Bremner's simple header from Menzies' cross made it six.

Paul Adamson, the Leith coach, highlighted the strength in depth of his squad on a day that required him to utilise every player available.

He said: "It was really hot out there and it was hard for the boys to go 90 minutes. We had to use our subs as best we could, especially with another two cup finals in the next week-and-a-half. The team really grafted and it's magnificent that we've got 13 players like that. I can have no complaints about any of them."

Tranent Juniors: Ewan Fallon, Ryan Hall, David Ross, Mark Sinanovic, Euan Watters, Alasdair Brown, Andrew Horne, Craig Wojtowycz, Michael Porteous, Cameron Reynolds, Craig Bell, Darren Ramsay, Blair Murray, Anton McKillop, Darren Archibald.

Leith Athletic: Matthew Banks, Christopher Barrie, David Menzies, Neil Lowson, Liam Rafferty, Steven Lynch, Jason Stevens, Lewis Tracey, William Bremner, Darren Lavery, Jamie Burstow, Ryan Davidson, Blair Dickson, Jack Combe, Lewis Martin.