Athletic and Windsor to play it again

Weather permitting, Leith Links will host the game of the day on Sunday at 2.00pm as Windsor and Leith attempt to break a stalemate that saw the first tie end 2-2 at Pinkie.

Windsor had beaten their fierce adversaries twice this season prior to the match, winning 3-0 at home early in the league campaign and 2-1 at Leith Links in mid-October through a last-minute Ewan Ralton goal.

Leith, though, stormed into the fourth round of the national tournament with convincing victories away to Newlands, Spartans and Blue Brazil, three matches in which Athletic scored 14 goals while conceding just two.

En route to the clash with their local rivals, Windsor overcame North Berwick Colts, Tweedmouth Juniors and Southside United, netting 11 and letting in two in the process.

With a fifth-round pairing against St Peter's or Campsie Black Watch in the offing, the match at Musselburgh had more needle than a sewing machine.

It was Leith, though, who settled quicker, and Jason Coyle's composed finish after just a quarter of an hour gave the visitors an early lead. Coyle latched on to a free-kick from the right and fired low into the bottom right-hand corner of Daniel Laing's net.

But just over ten minutes later, due largely to an unkindly bobble, Windsor were gifted an equaliser. Kieran Muirhead's run-of-the-mill backpass would normally have been blasted clear by goalkeeper Reece Smail but the ball cheekily jumped before the No.1's striking boot and, with Smail bewildered, Jordon Burrows seized the loose ball and netted.

Shades of Pele's audacious long-range lob against Czechoslovakia in 1970 followed minutes later at the other end and, like the Brazilian maestro, Leith's Daniel Simpson saw his effort from 30 yards bounce a foot wide after Windsor goalie Laing had skewed a clearance.

Laing was again beaten just before half time, but once more Leith were not quite precise enough to score. Gavin Kneeshaw's strike pinged off the crossbar and scoreline remained 1-1 at the break.

If his first goal was barely "missable", Windsor forward Burrows had to work considerably harder for his second 15 minutes into the second-half.

Burrows accepted a forward pass and, en route to the penalty area via the inside-right channel, out-muscled Leith defender Gordon Forbes before squeezing the ball into the bottom right-hand corner past the advancing Smail.

Just as Windsor had responded so quickly in equalising the game's opening goal, Leith hurried to restore parity. Just five minutes later it was 2-2 with the visitors requiring the assistance of the unfortunate Windsor defender Reece Docherty to draw level.

Daniel Simpson's lofted ball across the Windsor penalty area from the right was tipped higher into the air by the fingertips of Laing, but the ball dropped to the feet of a disorientated Docherty at the far post and fell into the net.

Despite the nature of Leith's equaliser, Musselburgh coach Derek Edwardson felt the draw justified the fare on show.

He said: "I thought it was a fair result. Both teams had chances to win the game. It was a typical cup tie in that the ball was up in the air a lot – normally the teams like to get it down and pass it."

Going into Sunday's replay, Edwardson has faith in the ability of his players to remain unbeaten against Leith this season, citing a midfield battle as key to deciding who progresses to the latter stages of the Scottish Cup. "The last couple of games have been about who has dominated the midfield, and we're usually good at spraying the ball around."

Leith Athletic: Reece Smail, Harvey McIntosh, Sean Murphy, Gordon Forbes, Kieran Muirhead, Ryan Ward, Gavin Kneeshaw, Jason Coyle, Brendan Edwards, Scott Wilson, Marc Fairbairn, Sean Mehen, Daniel Simpson, Martin Innes, Hector Crawford.

Musselburgh Windsor: Daniel Laing, Lee Edwardson, Patrick Harrold, Kamran Tufail, Reece Docherty, Jack Moffat, Ryan McConville, Daniel Moffat, Jordon Burrows, Craig Turnbull, Ewan Ralton, Declan O'Kane, Gary Scott-Learmonth, Ben Stewart.