YFS
Spartans FC have been crowned Under 15 Scottish Youth FA Cup champions after narrowly beating Glenvale AFC.
With no goals separating the teams at full time, Lee Ewing’s men came out on top with a 4-2 victory in the penalty shootout.
From the first whistle, you could tell the Excelsior stadium was going to play host to a very tight final and that is how it turned out to be. Glenvale enjoyed some early chances with the first of these coming in the 17th minute as Harry Pittaway narrowly headed wide.
Spartans also created several chances of their own as Joseph Evenden’s shot went just over the bar following good passing movement with Lorca Gray on the left side of goal.
Not long after that Spartans striker Nicholas Reid did well to get a shot on target after manging to get into the box, however Vale keeper Aiden McMahon was there to keep the scores level.
Sean Borland was the Vale’s star player in the first half dominating the midfield and creating his team a host of chances. One of these came just before the half hour mark as Borland played a clever one two with Brian Connor just outside the box, then Borland fizzed a first time shot only to be denied by Spartans goalkeeper Niall McFadden.
Borland was proving to be a handful as moments later his free kick from the left-hand side forced McFadden to punch the ball away from his area. A minute later, the Glenvale midfielder put in another good ball from the same area forcing another punching save from McFadden.
Jack Crombie was the main playmaker for Spartans as he retained the ball well in midfield and pulled off some great passes for his fellow teammates.
With keepers in both ends pulling off some great saves, there was nothing to separate the sides going into half time.