Rutherglen Glencairn deservedly took the honours in the hard-fought Lady Darling cup final when a late goal from club captain Ryan Bennett secured them the victory in dreadful conditions at Somervell Park, Cambuslang. Glencairn certainly had much of the possession and chances but Musselburgh Windsor proved themselves to be no pushovers and made the most of their possession, if Lady Darling’s luck had shown a little more, it may have been Windsor walking away with the famous old trophy.

Glencairn began the match at a breathtaking pace and almost had an early goal when Martin McCann picked up a misdirected clearance inside Windsor's penalty area. He passed inside for Thomas Robertson who fired narrowly over the crossbar. Ryan Bennett showed some great footwork when he was able to evade the challenges of four Windsor defenders and see his shot deflected into the side netting for a corner kick.

With just over ten minutes gone, Craig Dallas received the ball out wide and made a powerful run before passing inside for Bennett, his first shot was blocked by Daniel Howie, his second attempt from the rebound was struck low and keeper Daniel Laing got down to save.

Rutherglen looked comfortable passing the ball about and their relentless attack on the Musselburgh goal continued when, from a long throw into the Windsor penalty area, Dale Wallace chested the ball down for Thomas Robertson’s shot to be deflected for a corner kick. Bennett’s footwork was plain for all to see when he received a ball 35 yards from goal, turned and beat one player, held off the challenge of another before shooting from twenty yards, but again Laing saved the day and put behind for a corner kick.

It was only a matter of time before Glencairn took one of their chances and it came in the 17th minute. Glen keeper Chris Truesdale sent a free kick deep into the Musselburgh half. The ball bounced and cut through the Windsor back four and Connor McGuiness read the path of the ball and chased it down before sliding it past the oncoming keeper, 1-0.

With 20 minutes gone, Musselburgh were fortunate to be only one goal down. Rutherglen were still having chances but they started to keep possession and string some passes together. After 26 minutes, Anes Subasic managed a shot on goal but directed it straight towards Truesdale.

Shortly after the half-hour mark and totally against the run of play, Musselburgh won a free kick out wide deep inside Glencairn’s half, the ball was sent high towards goal and Subasic rose almost unchallenged and the ball sailed into the Rutherglen goal.

Some indecision in the Rutherglen defence almost handed Musselburgh a second when another free kick was hit high into the box for Chris Stevenson to get his head onto the ball and send goal wards, Truesdale managed to stretch and tip over the crossbar. Windsor were finishing the half strongly and Subasic was proving himself to be a nuisance, winning the ball 30 yards from goal. His shot was deflected wide and from the resulting corner, the ball was hit across the face of goal and a Glens defender almost knocked it into the goal but Truesdale got down to make a great goal-line stop.

The second half started much the same way as the first with Rutherglen on the attack but it was Musselburgh that had the first attempt. Shawn Coulon passed out to Subasic on the wing who played it straight back to him. Coulon's 20-yard effort inched past the Glencairn post.

Rutherglen had plenty of chances but did not manage to make the most of any of them, leaving the back door open for Musselburgh to take advantage of the few chances that they created. On the hour mark, they produced their most creative move of the match that almost led to them going ahead. From inside Rutherglen’s half, Conlon’s outstretched leg managed to send the ball in the direction of Simpson, passing to Stevenson whose first time back-heel found Subasic in the penalty area. He then also back-heeled inside for Simpson to strike from 10 yards but Truesdale made his second great save of the match when his outstretched leg sent the ball out for a corner.

Musselburgh were having their best spell of the match and starting to create chances from free-flowing football rather than the set pieces of the first half. A classy passing sequence from inside their own half started by Steven Kean progressed down the wing before an accurate long ball was played into the box for Stevenson to get on the end of. His first-time strike went a foot past the left post. The corner was hit for Daniel Howie to head onto the crossbar. The ball came back down and Truesdale touched back onto the crossbar, the rebounding ball fell to Simpson and his shot from six yards was blocked by the keeper and eventually headed to safety.

Having survived this passage of play, Glencairn won a throw-in deep inside Windsor territory, Daniel Salaha headed to McGuiness who played a one-two back for Salaha to pass out to Bennett on the far side of the penalty area, cutting inside with the ball at his feet, managed to go past a defender before striking the ball past the keeper and putting the Glens in front, 2-1.

Musselburgh had not given up and continued forward but were unable to convert any of their possession into chances. Some nasty challenges were starting to creep into the closing stages and Rutherglen’s Anthony Dempsey found himself red-carded after getting two yellows within a short space of time. Musselburgh had one final attempt when winning a free kick 25 yards from the Rutherglen goal. Kean struck the ball sweetly but Truesdale made a good save to deny the equaliser.

Musselburgh have one league match left and are playing to hold on to their current third place. This could be a tough ask though as other teams have games in hand. Rutherglen however have another Cup final to look forward to when they face Goldenhill at Greenfields Park, home of Shettleston Juniors this coming Sunday. They will also be looking to improve on ninth place with their remaining three fixtures.