West Lothian prove worth in cup thriller

WEST LOTHIAN'S finest emerging football talents will contest the Scottish Schools' Senior Trophy semi-final later this month after overcoming, by the slenderest of margins, a Lothian team made up of the cream of the crop from Edinburgh, Midlothian and East Lothian.

The intense head-to-head at Saughton produced a goal apiece in normal time and, after a goal-less extra time period, West Lothian's Scotland schoolboy goalkeeper Andrew Murphy was the hero with two superb penalty saves that finally saw off the challenge of the hosts.

The victory was significant not only with regard to the winners' progress to the semi-final stage, where they will play either Lanarkshire or Fife, but because West Lothian had overcome their local rivals after breaking away from the traditional Lothian setup a decade ago in the belief that players from schools in and around Livingston could hold their own against other regions of Scotland.

To that end, the visitors more than proved their value with a stirring performance complemented by a superlative first half opener. But, Lothian, with no little quality of their own, fought back to level the tie and may feel their display merited some reward.

David MacKenzie, part of the West Lothian coaching team, is proud of the quality that both sides displayed. "It was a great game, with a fantastic standard shown by both teams," he said. "I'm glad that our boys' energy and commitment were rewarded. We were a bit concerned that, after they scored we dipped a wee bit, but I thought we rallied and thought we finished stronger."

Lothian's Keiran McGachie flashed a shot narrowly over the bar after Michael Hunter's knockdown in the opening minutes, while Steven Harley responded for West Lothian with a strike that shaved the crossbar.

It was the irrepressible Fraser Keast, though, who opened the scoring with a goal for West Lothian that was reminiscent of Thierry Henry's famous blind volley for Arsenal against Manchester United. With his back to goal and the ball at chest height, Keast hooked the ball from the left-hand side of the penalty area and into the far corner of the net with goalkeeper Matthew Banks helpless.

Coach MacKenzie said of the Armadale High School pupil: "Fraser has been in the Scotland squad for the last couple of years and is a lovely footballer. He's very strong and I think he has a great future in the game."

Keast almost doubled his side's lead in a rip-roaring first half performance by West Lothian but, after knocking the ball outwith the grasp of keeper Banks, the No.9 rushed a difficult chance on the turn and the ball flew over the crossbar.

Lothian discovered a surer touch and produced more cohesive play in the second half, drawing level soon after the restart through a combination of their impressive forward duo of McGachie and Rory Emslie. The former neatly cut the ball back from the byline to the edge of the six yard box, where Emslie was on hand to covert into the bottom right-hand corner.

Right at the death, Lothian's Hunter, who had earlier fired a gilt-edged effort over the bar from 12 yards out, got an effort on target but was denied by an instinctive save by Banks, whose arms shot up to repel the point-blank header. Coach MacKenzie later noted the significance of the "excellent" save as West Lothian went on to win the game. The away team again had Banks to thank as he saved spot-kicks from Hunter and McGachie for West Lothian to win 4-3 on penalties, Bradley Niven, Ryan Meechan, Keast and Lee Fairley all netting for the victors.

"I don't think we fear anyone now," added McKenzie. "I think Lothian were one of the favourites to win the cup. Since West Lothian broke away from Lothian about ten years ago, it's taken a while for us to build up confidence. But, despite being a relatively small local authority, we've got a fantastic bunch of boys who are a credit to the area."

Bill Barclay, secretary of the Lothian team, complimented West goalkeeper Andrew Murphy on denying his side a complete comeback in the second half.

He said: "It was a cracking game. We struggled in the first half and they were well up for it – their forward, Keast, caused us all sorts of problems. We came back into it and scored our equaliser, but we just couldn't get that second goal as their goalkeeper had three excellent saves."

Schools' football by its nature suffers from a lack of continuity as a new breed of eligible upper school footballers emerges each year, and Mr Barclay praised the quality of the latest crop.

"Last year we reached the semi-finals, and we thought we had a better team this year," he said. "We thought we might go all the way, but to go out on penalties was very disappointing. The team changes each year – you don't know which boys will stay at school either – so we just have to wait and see and do better next year."

West Lothian will play the winner of the Lanarkshire versus Fife tie scheduled to be played at Bellshill on Thursday, 18 February. The hosts hope to stage the semi-final game at Livingston's Almondvale Stadium.

Lothian Schools: Matthew Banks (Preston Lodge), Scott Ritchie (Tynecastle), Calum Liddle (Royal High), Duncan Black (Craigmount), Stewart Thomson (Lasswade), Michael Hunter (St David's), Conor McKillop (Preston Lodge), Tim Rawlinson (Dalkeith), Keiran McGachie (St David's), Rory Emslie (Penicuik), Stephen McGinn (St Augustine's), Jordan Finnie (Holy Rood), Stefan Ross (St Thomas of Aquin's), Andrew Sinclair (Holy Rood), Jamie Pyper (Tynecastle), Ross McMullen (George Heriot's).

West Lothian Schools: Andrew Murphy (Armadale), Bradley Niven (Linlithgow), Callum McQueenie (West Calder), Billy Hutchison (Whitburn), Sammy Watson (Deans), Christopher Graham (Whitburn), Steven Harley (Deans), Ryan Slessor (Broxburn), Fraser Keast (Armadale), Andrew Murison (Linlithgow), Alan Lawson (Bathgate). Subs: Craig Mahood (James Young), Ryan Meechan (Armadale), Lee Fairley (Broxburn).