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The road to Tynecastle came to an end as Spartans and Hutchison Vale did battle to determine the winner of the Willie Bauld Cup Final, with both sides in good form and not a huge amount to split between them.

Spartans, who beat Tynecastle 3-1 in the previous round, controlled the majority of possession early on, with Keir Russell dragging an early free-kick wide after four minutes.

In the early stages it became evident that Hutchie had pace and energy in abudance upfront, and they displayed that with seven minutes on the clock as Rory Hamilton raced through and won a corner for his side, but Kieran Moyles was there to clear it away.

Only three minutes later their counter-attacking style led to the opening goal, once again it was Rory Hamilton who was in the centre of the action as Reuben Walsh floated an inch-perfect ball over the back-line, and Hamilton took the shot well on the half-volley, striking the ball into the far corner and over the goalkeeper.

Five minutes later Russell attempted to put his team level with another dig from distance, but he dragged the shot wide of the post. Hutchie countered down at the other end, as Brandon Hunter broke away from his man and worked it to Hamilton for his second, but this time he could only hit his powerful effort over the bar for a goal-kick.

On 19 minutes there was a second goal and it levelled the scoreline. If the opening goal was a brilliant piece of build up and a clinical finish, the equaliser was as simple as it gets; Russell wouldn’t have expected his inswinging corner to find the back of the net, but exactly that happened as his delivery soared over the heads of everybody, including the goalkeeper, and into the top corner. The most unlikely of ways to get his side back into this final.

Hutchie persisted with their counter-attacking style and it nearly paid dividends when Cameron Fraser found himself through on goal, but Harry Stone was quick off his line to smother the resulting shot and keep it at 1-1.

The half ended on a quiet note after the earlier barrel of chances, with Reece Mason having the only real chance for Spartans before half-time, as he controlled a cross on his chance, turned well and got his shot away, but could only hit it into the midriff of goalkeeper Dean Beveridge.

Oskar Zienniewicz was clearly in a rush to grab Spartans a second goal, picking the ball up straight from kick-off and racing through the midfield and defence, worked himself into a shooting position and left fly, but the shot didn’t match the run and the ball sailed over. His side were looking most likely to grab a winning goal and they came inches from going in front after 44 minutes from another corner, this time, it was worked to Kieran Moyles who arrived late into the box and headed it down into the ground, but it was booted off the line to evade the danger and relieve some pressure off the Hutchie back four.

Hunter looked the man most likely to provide some inspiration for Vale and he caused the Spartans defence a nightmare with 20 minutes remaining, as he stormed down the wing, beat his man with some slick footwork and carved an opening in the centre of the box, but the shot was timid and Stone had no problem collecting the ball.

Moyles was again a huge threat from set-pieces 10 minutes from the end and probably should have found the target when Zieniewicz swung in a lovely free-kick from near the halfway line and it went deep towards goal. Moyles slid to get a foot on it, but was off balance and could only send it over the bar from a few yards out.

It looked as if the match was going to head to extra-time and potentially a penalty shootout as chances were few and far between, but Robbie Walker had different ideas. In injury time, a long ball looked to be nothing more of a lost cause when Spartans’ number 18 chased onto it, but he spotted the goalkeeper off his line, got to the ball first, and clipped it first time over his head and the defence. Time stood still as his teammates waited for the ball to cross the line and Hutchie defenders scrambled to clear the ball, but it was to no avail as it bounced into the net; and with hardly any stoppage time to play; looked to be the winner.

Indeed it was, as the referee blew the whistle for full-time and confirmed that the cup would be heading back to North Edinburgh in the most dramatic fashion.