Royal second-half display secures cup for Hutchie

Hutchison VALE produced an impressive second-half performance to romp home as 6-2 winners against Salvesen in the South East Region Royal Edinburgh Cup final at a rainy New Dundas Park in Bonnyrigg.

Craig Wojtowylz's second half wonder strike for Hutchie was the most impressive conversion in the eight-goal affair. He picked up the ball 30 yards from goal and hit a high looping shot that passed over the helpless Graeme McDonald and into the top-right corner of the goal.

Hutchie's conclusive victory was a far cry from what had happened just seven days earlier, when the two sides met in the Federation of Hibs Supporters' Cup final, with Salvesen taking the trophy as 4-3 winners despite Hutchie taking an early 2-0 lead.

The first half of this latest tie was a mixed affair, with goals from Adam Porteous and Mark Hendrie for Salvesen, and Andrew Munro and Lewis Page for Hutchie making the score 2-2 at the break. Hutchie then turned on the style in the second half with two goals from Wojtowylz, which included a close-range effort and the late wondergoal, and also goals from Scott Coleman and Craig Stevenson.

Salvesen made the perfect start to the final when, four minutes in, Hendrie hit a long ball into the area, which eventually met the head of Porteous and ricocheted off the Hutchie defence and past William Stewart. Hutchie replied just five minutes later when Wojtowylz's long cross from the right was struck home by Munro from just inside the box.

Hutchie had another chance after a quarter of an hour when Munro connected well with Stevenson's corner but his header passed two feet wide of the upright. Salvesen replied with a chance of their own from a Hendrie corner; the ball hit a crowd of players in the box and found its way into the goal, but the referee deemed an offence had been committed and the goal was disallowed.

After an end to end opening 30 minutes, Hutchie took the lead with a fine effort. Mason hit a ball down the left wing to Lewis Page, who lost his defender, dinked the ball over the advancing McDonald and watched the ball roll slowly into the bottom-right corner. Salvesen levelled the tie just minutes later, when a defensive clearance reached Hendrie just inside the area and he struck a low hard shot past the keeper.

Hutchie's third goal came eight minutes into the second half when Stevenson's cross was nodded in low by Wojtowylz from close-range, and the Hutchie pressure mounted. Munro's head connected with Wojtowylz's corner and skimmed the top of the crossbar. Their lead was doubled after 18 minutes when Page passed his defender on the right wing and hit a short ball to Coleman who struck past McDonald at the second attempt.

Stevenson then hit a fine strike towards the top left corner from just outside the box but was denied by a reaction save from the keeper. The resulting corner presented another chance for Stevenson and this time when the ball fell to him on the edge of the area he struck it into the roof of the net on 65 minutes.

Salvesen had a couple of half chances late in the game but Wojtowylz's fantastic long-range effort proved to be the final piece of action in an exciting game of football.

Proud Hutchie coach Steve Forrest said: "It was a hard-fought game, evenly-matched in the first half and then in the second half we eventually got stuck into our game plan and got the ball past them a lot better. The boys were a bit down after losing our last two cup finals but they really turned it around and it was an excellent squad performance. I'm absolutely delighted for them."

Salvesen coach Alan Currie said: "We played some excellent football in the first half and didn't really show up in the second half, but all credit to Hutchie Vale - they played brilliantly."

Coach Currie and Salvie were to have their revenge over Hutchie just days later after a rematch pitted the two teams together in the South East Region under-19 league play-off. Vale had won Section 'A' with a 100 percent record, while Salvesen triumphed in Section 'B'. In a Stateside-style decider between the two table-toppers, Adam Porteous nodded the only goal from a Mark Hendrie free-kick to take the overall title for Salvesen.

Hutchison Vale: William Stewart, Ryan Hall, Connor Kane, Andrew Munro, Craig Stevenson, Mark Mitchell, Martyn Robinson, Robbie Mason, Craig Wojtowylz, Scott Coleman, Lewis Page. George Fox, Garry Oliver, Craig Scott, Rory Emslie.

Salvesen BC: Graeme McDonald, Stephen McIntyre, Greig Jardine, Nic Green, Callum McDonald, Stewart Ogilvie, Daniel Currie, Dale Heatlie, Adam Porteous, Mark Hendrie, Daniel Gemmell. Errol Douglas, Garry Smith, Cameron Sneddon, Nicholas Kneebone, Dean McGregor.