It's a Small leap for Tynecastle

Tynecastle 96 leapfrogged North Berwick Colts by defeating their East Lothian rivals 2-1 in the Lothian Buses South East Region under-15 Division 2 at Saughton Park.

Two first half goals, courtesy of Tynie's Stuart Small and Shaun Munro, narrowly separated the mid-table sides at the break, but Colts drew hope from a late goal by Liam Mackie and almost levelled in the final few minutes.

The breakthrough was made by Small in somewhat scrappy style, with the Tynie No.?7 netting at far post from a corner after the ball had skittled around the six-yard box.

Soon after, Munro doubled the maroons' lead, receiving the ball out on the right flank and cutting inside past a couple of Colts challenges, then launching a cross-cum-shot over goalkeeper Harley from the edge box.

The opening period of the second half was a tale of two sitters, both spurned as home goalkeeper John Clayton and his Colts counterpart James Harley saved penalties.

Five minutes after the restart, North Berwick's James Bullen clumsily felled Jack Liddell in the penalty area, but Tynie goalscorer Munro couldn't add to his tally as his spot-kick down the middle ricocheted off the legs of Harley.

On 53 minutes, referee Cunningham awarded a second straightforward penalty, this time at the other end as the dynamic Colts player Gregor Gray burst into the box only to be upended. Having earned the kick with a daring run goalward, Gray naturally felt bullish enough to take on responsibility for the one-on-one with Clayton. But the Tynie No.1, praised post-match by his manager for a scintillating start to the season, pulled off a spectacular save from Gray's 12-yard effort, leaping high to his right to push the ball away.

Fifteen minutes later, Clayton was beaten by the more clinical Mackie as Colts poured forward in the hunt for an equaliser. The visitors' speedy midfielder latched into a long ball forward and, from the right-hand side of the box, chipped the goalkeeper with the ball floating into the far left-hand corner.

Arran Darrie almost scored a second for North Berwick with just moments remaining, but after weaving his way forward and unleashing a powerful shot at goal from 20 yards, his effort cleared the crossbar by inches.

Tynecastle coach Alan Forsythe praised his opponents' performance at full time and revealed his own side's promotion ambitions after a third-place finish last term.

He said: "North Berwick are one of the best teams we've played this year. When we go down there later in the season, I'll expect a tough game.

"We've had a good start to the season but dropped a couple of silly points.

"Overall, I'm pleased with how we've started, and I'm hopeful we'll be there or thereabouts at the end of the season. We would like to be at the top of the division but to be honest, all we want is the boys staying fit, enjoying themselves and improving their game.

"We're not a big, physical team, so the aim is to get them to move the ball wide and get to the byline. We have a number of good, strong performers. Our goalkeeper John Clayton has been very solid throughout the year, Jack Ormiston has been strong for us at the back, as has Jack Montgomery in the middle of the field.

Tynecastle 96: John Clayton, Benjamin Williams, Connor Macdonald, Jack Ormiston, Mark Hemmings, Mark McLean, Stuart Small, Peter Wood, Shaun Munro, Peter Gray, Joseph Muzyka, Dylan Thomson, Alexander Forsythe, Jack Liddell, Ronan Lapping, Jack Montgomery.

North Berwick Colts: James Harley, Daniel Darrie, Arran Darrie, Adam Corrie, Rory Mitchell, Liam Mackie, Jack Fish, James Bullen, Gregor Tait, Gregor Gray, Mathew Cannon, Fraser Duff, Ricardo Burrows.