Hutchie Vale dig deep to counter miners' strikes

Hutchison Vale Colts capped a comeback eight minutes from time to emerge victorious over Loanhead Miners YFC, in spite of having been two down with just 20 minutes remaining in their Lothian Buses plc South East Region Youth FA under-14 Division 1 fixture at Wardie.

A match that brought a goalless first half was handsomely redeemed by a five-goal second period and no little incident on a glorious day in North Edinburgh. As the sun beat down on the Granton Road pitch, Kerr Scott provided Vale's ray of light with the winning strike on 62 minutes.

It was the young Midlothian side, though, who appeared to be going home with all three points on the first day of the season after a penalty and a freak free-kick had stolen for them an advantage after half- time. Vale focused intently on achieving a fluid passing game, but, for all their possession, the home side lacked a cutting edge and their only first-half chance came when Euan Graham wove infield from the right and struck his 20-yard shot narrowly wide of the far post.

Three minutes after the interval, Vale goalkeeper Steven Hill, in his improvised role of sweeper, missed a clearance 25 yards out as Loanhead hunted down a forward ball. The visitors regained possession, and a flapping Vale defence could contrive only to concede a penalty as they sought to snuff out the threat. Stuart Rae was needlessly felled on the edge of the penalty box, and Cameron McNab sent the resulting spot-kick low past Hill.

Loanhead doubled their lead soon after, when Ryan Porteous's innocuous-looking 25-yard free-kick from the right trickled into the net. The unfortunate Vale defender Calum Scott missed his clearance, with the ball escaping his right boot by passing underneath, as the relatively weak effort found its way into the bottom left-hand corner.

A critical decision was to follow, with referee Chris McGregor in no doubt that a header from a corner by Vale's Cameron McPhillips had crossed the line before Loanhead's defence could clear, and all of a sudden the Sky Blues' seemingly comfortable advantage was halved.

The goal was controversial but it was undoubtedly the the catalyst for a Vale comeback. Graham drew Hutchie level soon after in spite of the close attention of Jack Fairgrieve, the Loanhead captain, who had tracked the run of the striker across the box. Graham needed only the faintest glimpse of goal, though, to force the ball past the defender and into the bottom left-hand corner with the outside of his right boot.

Vale's Scott settled the contest with a fitting solo strike as the clock ticked down.

The dynamic young striker still had plenty of work to do when he picked up the ball on half-way, facing a sparse Loanhead defence.

With a great first touch, he moved away from his marker and, now with a clear sight of goal, outmuscled a second defender.

With just Loanhead goalie Liam Taylor standing between Scott and the matchwinner, Scott drew on superlative composure to chip the ball to the right of the sprawling No.?1 and into the bottom corner.

Vale coach Alan Watson said: "I thought we were lethargic, but 3-2 was a fair result. We didn't get into our stride and conceded sloppy goals."

Hutchison Vale Colts: Steven Hill, Conrad Frain, Zeus-Duriel Jiminez, Calum Scott, Jack Tennessee Watt, Cameron McPhillips, Patrick Phillip McKelvey, Scott Stenhouse, Ryan Mayor, Anthony Harrison, Euan Graham, Steven Faichney, Andrew Hannigan, Drew Eadie, James Paris, Kerr Scott.

Loanhead MYFC: Liam Taylor, Jack Fairgrieve, Connor Lawrie, Scott Fairgrieve, Mark Frame, Cameron McNab, Stuart Rae, Rudi Glenn, Harry McGill, Fraser Shearer, James Burns, Ryan Porteous.