Largs Thistle 0 - 1 Linlithgow Rose: Donnelly delivers to hand Linlithgow Rose Junior Cup

The East Region side might have been two-up ten minutes later, but Connick turned an in-swinging Stuart McArthur away and a minute later, at the other end, Steve Pinkowski maintained Rose's one-goal-lead with a brilliant save from Ryan Deas.

With both sides wilting in the heat, a stream of substitutions affected the flow of the game, but the fans, particularly those of Linlithgow, were on their feet in 76 minutes when Rose replacement Manson, who had only been on the park ten minutes, was shown a straight red card for a high, studs-up challenge on Thistle's Alan McCabe, who had to go off with a dislocated knee with Craig Black coming on. But the Ayrshire side never looked like making their one-man advantage pay-off in the time remaining. Rose controlled the pace of the game, their defence was solid and, in the final play of the game, substitute Roddy MacLennan, who had come on for cup veteran Gordon Herd, made a great run to the byline before crossing for Tommy Coyne, whose shot on the turn was turned past the post by Connick.

For Rose boss Dave Baikie, this was a third win as a manager, after two with Tayport. "The buzz isn't quite the same as when I first won, 14 years ago, but this is with a new club so it's special in its own way," he said. "I thought we deserved to win, but all credit to Largs for making it so hard for us, but Kevin's strike was a goal fit to win any cup – it doesn't matter how you get over the line, so long as you get there."

Largs Thistle: Connick; Davidson, Jamieson, Walton, McCabe (Black 81), McMillan, Robertson (McClure 75), JP Dow (Marks 58), Monaghan, Lappin, Deas. Substitutes not used: Galt, Barnes, M Dow, Black, Greenwood.

Linlithgow Rose: Pinkowski; Donnelly, Virgili, Ward, Wilson, Tyrrell, Livingstone (Manson 66), Bradley (Kelly 66), Herd (MacLennan 83), Coyne, McArthur. Substitutes not used: Smith, Flannery, McMenamin, MacPherson.