Three second half goals from Hutchison Vale were enough to see them past runners up Lasswade Thistle to lift the South East region cup in Dunbar.

The game started of a tight contest, with both sides aiming to play from the back and a couple of half chances falling the way of Vale in the opening minutes.

Thistle created their first meaningful chance on ten minutes when Bailey McKenzie was rolled in behind. The forward opted to cut back inside to get onto his rightside, where he fired a strike into the arms of the grateful Dean Brownlee.

Hutchie were next to go close as the impressive Bryan Mwangi very nearly picked out Tyrone Core at the backpost with a tempting cross, which just evaded the winger.

Soon after, David Malloy had a strike bocked for Lasswade before Core was brought down in the penalty area up the other end.

The winger stepped up and made no mistake as he cooly dispatched the spot-kick into the bottom left corner, despite the keeper going the right way.

Hutchie continud to push for a second as both Mason Renton and Ryan Findlay tried their luck from distance, however neither really troubled Joshua Lothian as the half came to a close.

Vale started the second period very much on the front foot: both attackers, Findlay and Core, came close to scoring. Core fired an effort just wide of the far post on the break just after Findlay had hit the side netting with a low strike from the angle.

The second didn’t take much longer to come and it was Core once again on 47 minutes. It was patient build up play from Hutchie, who worked the ball across to the right where Core was in space – and this time he hit the shot cleanly, as it nestled into the bottom corner.

In the second half Jamie MacLeod became a growing influence in the game and on more than one occasion he found himself weaving his way through Thistle defenders; but he just couldn’t find the net despite his best efforts.

Lasswade began to gain a better hold of the ball with around 20 minutes to go but were caught napping on a corner as Rayan Mohammed rose highest from six yards to nod home Renton’s corner.

MacLeod again went close through a powerful header from Jayden Bradley’s tempting cross, but he couldn’t direct the header either side of Lothian who held on to deny.

The scoring was rounded off in the final moments as another Renton corner was converted, this time by Blair Mckenzie – who rose highest at the near post to glance a header beyond Lothian to ensure Hutichison Vale lifted the trophy, and a deserved victory at that.