A late winner from Leon Forbes was enough for Harlaw Academy to bring home the Gerrard Trophy. The teams have served some cracking games of football throughout the years and this game was no exception with the game having a good end-to-end feel about it.
Cults started the game on a bright note and had an early chance when a ball was sent in from Lewis MacDonald which was met by Ross Gillespie however a good save from Cai Shepherd denied the midfielder.
There was very little between the teams and both teams drove up their own areas whenever they could. Cults took the lead after 23 minutes with MacDonald hitting an audacious effort past Shepherd. Shepherd did get a hand to it however the effort proved to be too much for the unlucky goalkeeper.
Harlaw pressed the Cults backline immediately after the goal and they pulled level after 34 minutes with a good ball going into the pathway of Stephen Holland and the forward guided the ball home with a fine finish hammering the ball past Ben Crawshaw.
Harlaw Under 15s win Gerrard Trophy after come back
Cults Academy 2
Harlaw Academy 3
- Saturday, 24 March 2018
- Dyce Academy
- Under 15´s
- Gerrard Trophy
- Half Time:
- Cults Academy
- 1-1
- Harlaw Academy
A spillage from Harlaw goalkeeper Shepherd almost let Cults regain the lead once again with Chino Orisakwe getting the ball however the effort smacked off the post.
It was a lively 2nd half and a big challenge on a Harlaw player saw the player being forced off and tensions rise among the two teams, some cool heads were required for both the teams going into the latter stages of the Gerrard Trophy final.
Cults went ahead once again with 12 minutes from time with MacDonald delivering the goods again with a curled effort from the edge of the box which was too much for Shepherd in the Harlaw goal. It was unfortunate for Shepherd that he had been beaten by two quality strikes as he had a good goal regardless of this.
Harlaw broke up the park from the centre spot and immediately went at the Cults backline once again. Within two minutes they were level when Stephen Holland broke free of the Cults defence and had his shot deflected into the net to give Harlaw a lifeline.
Extra time looked to be on the cards until Harlaw had other ideas. A header from Jake Forbes, two minutes before the final whistle, found it's way into the back of the net and the game was a great advert for Aberdeen Schools Football with both teams going for it from the word go.
Tensions obviously had risen during the second half however it was a great game of football and there wasn't really a team who deserved to win the game more than anybody else.
- Full Time:
- Cults Academy
- 2-3
- Harlaw Academy
Lineups
- Match report and photos copyright Youth Football Scotland.