A dominant second half performance and a hat-trick from Sam Gormley ensured Cavalry Park strolled to victory over Earlston Rhymers in the Craig Gowans Memorial Cup at Portobello High.

The first half remained goalless until the death when Gormley pounced and from that point onwards, there was only going to be one winner, as Cavalry Park began to rack up the goals after the interval, and advance to the next round.

In the early stages, Tom Davies proved to be a real handful for Earlston, firstly forcing the keeper to tip behind, before he fizzed a ball across the face - to which there were no takers.

Andrew Mackenzie fired over from distance before Murray Lockhart missed the target when the ball dropped to him from a corner.

They continued to spurn chances, although none clear-cut. James Stewart was next following a cross in from the right, and then Mackenzie lashed the rebound goalwards, only for it to be cleared off the line.

One of the better chances of the half fell to Davies on 23 minutes, who got on the end of an inviting delivery from the left and nodded the bar down into the ground - however keeper Finlay Dodds was alert to it and managed to claw off the line.

Despite their ascendancy in the first period, half an hour in the home side still had nothing to show for it. Rhymers managed to play some decent stuff out from the back, with Alisdair Buchanan and Jack Bell linking up well on the left side, but for the most part, they struggled to negotiate the Cavalry Park high-press.

Cavalry turned it up a notch in the closing five minutes of the half, increasing the tempo in search of an opener. Davies again found himself in scoring positions, but again was denied by Dodds - whose heroics kept his side in it in the first half. Scrambles and goal-line clearances followed, but the score remained level.

That was until Rhymers lost possession at the back and Cavalry Park took full advantage. Davies turned provider, running the channel and picking out Gormley with a pinpoint cross. The skipper did the rest as he adjusted to loop the bouncing ball into the far corner in the dying seconds of the first half.

It only took three minutes of after the restart for the second to come, as the overlapping Stewart fired a cross along the face, which was cleared, but only as far as Gormley, who took one touch to set himself and then calmly curled the ball into the far corner to double his, and his side’s tally.

Earlston heads had dropped at this point and it was now just a case of how many for the home side.

On 52 minutes, Andrew Bulloch broke through a hole in the defence, on the right side of the area, and drilled low past Dodds in goal to make it three.

Two minutes later, it was four. Mackenzie, out wide, picked out Gormley in the middle and the midfielder didn’t make any mistakes with the finish, firing low into the corner to round off a classy hat-trick for the captain.

Six minutes later they had a fifth, as Stewart guided the ball into the net from a corner.

After the fifth, Cavalry Park stayed firmly on top of proceedings, although may have slightly taken their foot of the gas as they looked to see out the tie.

In the end, a routine win for Cavalry Park, who advance to the next round, and a tough one to take for Earlston - who will be kicking themselves on the long journey home for conceding on the stroke of half time - a moment that proved to be a pivotal turning point in the match.