Breaking up is hard to do for the trophy-laden Tynie under-16 squad

TYNECASTLE UNDER-16s can surely lay claim to a unique feat in football after sealing a league championship and cup double with two wins in 24 hours. After winning by a single goal against title rivals Bonnyrigg Rose to wrap up the Division 1 title, Tynie repeated the trick a day later with a 1-0 victory over Seton to claim the South East Region under-16 Steve Maskrey Cup.

The young maroons had already secured the Jackie Faichney Memorial Cup and the South East Region Cup, their reward for a scintillating season taking the form of no fewer than four pieces of silverware.

Their triumph in the last game of the under-16 season came against Seton at Dunbar, which was also the venue a fortnight earlier for a miraculous turnaround that saw Tynie recover from a two-goal deficit to beat Bonnyrigg 5-2 and claim the honours in the top regional cup competition.

While there were far fewer goals this time around against their Port Seton-based opponents, the Saughton club once again came up trumps, this time courtesy of a first half strike by the promising Callum Paterson.

Paterson, along with the majority of the Tynecastle squad, is being courted by senior clubs who want to tie up some of the Capital's most gifted young players, and he certainly did his chances of a big move no harm with an excellent display.

Attacking full back Connor McDonald created the only goal with a run down the left on 27 minutes, feeding Paterson on the corner of the penalty area before the No.7 cut across the face of the 18-yard box and shot into the bottom left-hand corner past Joshua McFarlane.

The match officials had a tough call to make at the other end five minutes later when Seton's Scott McPherson chased down a beautifully-weighted through-ball via the outside of Calvin Robertson's right boot on halfway.

McPherson's chip sent the ball above the advancing Lyle Sloan, and the Tynie goalkeeper handled the ball on the edge of the penalty area. The question for the referee and his enclosure-side assistant was: "On which side of the 18-yard line did the No.1 handle the ball? The referee waved play on, to nods of agreement from one section of the support and outrage from the other.

Seton's Daniel O'Rourke and Andrew McMillan tried to drive their side forward in the search for a second half equaliser, but the closest they came was through a blocked Robertson strike before an off-balance Greg Lauder blazed the rebound wide of the post.

Tynie's Jack Downie, with a sidefoot volley from a Paterson cross that curved narrowly wide of the top left-hand corner, was closest to doubling the maroons' lead, while his team mate Fergus Lockhart fired wide twice. First with a shot from the edge of the box and then a header from a corner. Seton keeper McFarlane made good saves from Paterson, Lockhart and from Jake Stevenson at point-blank range but his efforts weren't matched by his colleagues further up the pitch as Tynie held on for victory.

Tynecastle club leader Dougie Dalgleish has worked closely with the under-16 team this year and cut an emotional figure at the end of his charges' final game before the break-up of a talented young squad.

"They're a great bunch of lads who have given us two great years," said Mr Dalgleish. "Gary Mackay (ex-Hearts captain] started with them and got them into good habits early doors.

"Normally two to three players at our grade will move on but we have ten players moving to pro youth football with senior clubs, and all we can do is wish them well. In all my years of coaching, I've had good teams, but these boys were very special people – they would listen and all gave 100 per cent in training. I just hope they make the big stage."

Standing pitchside at the Dunbar ground following the Maskrey Cup win brought back memories for Dougie of a previous trophy win at the same venue.

He said: "A particular highlight for me was the South East Region final here a couple of weeks ago, where we found ourselves in a situation we'd never experienced before – being 2-0 down at half time. The second half performance that day to win 5-2 was out of this world."

Tynecastle: Lyle Sloan, Josh Riddell, Connor McDonald, Lewis Hawkins, Frazer Galloway, Jake Stevenson, Callum Paterson, Fergus Lockhart, Jonathan Bisset, Dale Finnie, Jamie Forsyth, Jack Downie, Liam Fletcher, Douglas McKenzie.

Seton BC: Joshua McFarlane, Aaron Stenhouse, Jack Wheatley, David Lamond, Ben Millar, Thomas Stevenson, Fraser Mackinnon, Daniel O'Rourke, Greg Lauder, Andrew McMillan, Dean Riddell, Taylor McKillop, Scott McPherson, Calvin Robertson, Calum McClure.