Cramond in seventh heaven as they hammer Liberton United

The visitors were unable to contain their opponents and could have lost by an even greater margin had it not been for goalkeeper Lewis Whitelaw.

Cramond coach Paul Derighetti said: “We were outstanding. We passed really well and took our chances when they came, so I’m absolutely delighted with the performance.” The hosts looked menacing in the opening minutes and it didn’t take them long to find the net.

A neat move up the left involving Jake Henderson and Finlay Hart created a chance for Richard Kerr, who got a break in the penalty area, before curling an exquisite effort into the top right corner.

Cramond’s dominance continued and doubled their lead after 20 minutes. Superb dribbling by Henderson created space for Matthew McKenzie’s supporting run, and he showed great finesse firing a shot high into the net from 20 yards.

Cramond added a third when Kerr and Liam Boath created for Ryan Quinn to net from close range.

Whitelaw then produced an outstanding reaction save in the Liberton goal. Kerr’s cross from the right was caught sweetly by the right boot of McKenzie and his stinging shot forced the Liberton No. 1 into a low dive to his right where he held well.

Cramond put the contest to bed just before the interval with a fourth goal. A long ball over the top of the Liberton defence was missed by Weir, and Quinn showed little mercy by coolly slotting beyond Whitelaw.

Liberton then created their best opportunity of the half but Stuart Robertson’s shot was well handled by Charlie Brice.

The same player should have at least hit the target just after the restart but headed wide from Lewis Gray’s cross.

Kerr added a fifth and doubled his tally for the day in the process with a fine strike into the corner after receiving a return pass from Mark Warnock.

Rowan Fife tried to get into the scoring action anf his run and shot from defence wasn’t too far away as the ball went wide of the far post.

Quinn had a couple of opportunities to complete his hat-trick. First, the No. 10 came within inches of scoring when his deflected strike came crashing back off the post, then he brought out another fine save by Whitelaw. Cramond added salt into the Liberton wounds with a sixth goal, the combination of Kerr and McKenzie once again proving lethal as the latter fired a well-struck volley into the bottom corner.

Robertson, the visitors’ most promising player in an otherwise painfull afternoon, managed a consolation goal with a superb dipping strike from 35 yards which Brice could only fingertip into the net. The rout was completed when Hart’s cross from the left was headed in by Conner Miller.

Cramond FC: Charlie Brice, Rowan Fife, Finlay Hart, Matthew McKenzie, Cameron Paton, Jake Hughes, Jake Henderson, Richard Kerr, Ryan Quinn, Euan Nisbet, Liam Boath, Brandon Mullen, Mark Warnock, Conner Miller.

Liberton United: Lewis Whitelaw, Paul Weir, Jack Doyle, Jack Collins, Lewis Kynoch, Cameron Gill. Grant Chappell, Sean Gilhooley, Lee McMullan, Stuart Robertson, Mark Barnet, Cameron Oag, Lewis Gray, Kieran Lumsden, Humza Rafiq.