West Lothian Schools U-18s into Scottish Cup semi final

Feb 11 2010 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

West Lothian win 4 - 3 on penalties

WEST LOTHIAN’S phenomenal footballing fledglings clinched a place in the final four of the Senior Inter-District Scottish Cup this week following a dramatic penalty shoot-out victory.

In a quarter-final of high-quality and even higher drama West Lothian were held to a 1-1 draw by Lothian Schools on the 3G astro pitch at Saughton in Edinburgh.

So their Scottish Cup fate was to be decided from 12 yards in the lottery of the dreaded penalty shootout with West Lothian holding their nerve to squeeze through.

The game started well for West with Steven Harley (Deans Community High) continually involved. He almost opened the scoring in the 10th minute with a powerful shot from 18 yards which screamed just over the bar.

Andrew Murison (Linlithgow Academy) went similarly close with a shot which whistled narrowly over the top in an exciting start.

The opener arrived midway through the first-half when Armadale Academy pupil Fraser Keast took a long throw on his chest and with his back still towards goal, partly turned to volley the ball into the roof of the net from 16 yards. It was a goal of outstanding quality from the under-18 internationalist who had previously scored for Scotland in the 3-2 win over Australia a few days earlier.

Both sides opened the second-half in an attacking frame of mind and it was Lothian who drew level in the 53rd minute when the visitors allowed too much time and space in the box and were duly punished.

It could have been even worse for West Lothian and only the heroics of keeper Andrew Murphy (Armadale) denied Lothian a dramatic injury-time winner.

In keeping with the theme of the match the penalty shootout was always going to be a close-run affair and so it proved.

There were seven under-18 internationalists on display – including both goalkeepers.

The opening round of penalties were expertly driven home before Murphy saved to give West Lothian an ultimate 4 -3 advantage with each side having one further attempt left.

Billy Hutchison (Whitburn) had the opportunity to put West Lothian into the semi-finals but his well taken kick was matched by internationalist Matthew Banks (Preston Lodge).

It was still 4-3 in favour of West Lothian with the home side needing to score with their final penalty to take the tie to sudden death.

But once again Murphy was more than a match for the kicker as he flew across his goal to make the save and earn an under-18 Scottish Cup semi for West Lothian for the first time.

West Lothian will now be at home to Lanarkshire or Fife with the ties scheduled to be played by the end of February.

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