Youth wrap: Spartans win Colin Greenhill Cup | Semis for Tynie U-15s

Spartans Under-16s lifted the Colin Greenhill Memorial Cup on Sunday as they defeated Tynecastle FC. The tie came down to penalties after regular and extra time was not enough to separate the two sides.

Spartans Under-16s show off the Colin Greenhill Memorial Cup. Pic: TSPL

Throughout the first half, Tynecastle looked the more positive team and the match was kept scoreless for a long time due to a number of brilliant saves made by the Spartans keeper Niall McFadden.

Five minutes before the end of the first half Tyncastle broke the deadlock courtesy of a William Scott strike.

Tynecastle went into the break with a 1-0 lead, but with the hot sun bearing down on the pitch, it would prove difficult to keep up the tempo for the second period.

Spartans equalised ten minutes after the restart. A free-kick was whipped in from the far side and dropped at the back post for Jack Carr to smash over the keeper on the half-volley.

Spartans looked a lot more confident after bringing the game level and threatened the Tynecastle goal again soon after.

Michael Mbewe came very close to finding the top corner after latching onto a Carr delivery form the right, but he could only watch as it sailed over the bar.

Tynecastle looked to regain control of the match and nearly did through Kieran Ngwenya. He fired a shot towards goal, but couldn’t find a way through all the bodies in the box.

Arran Laidlaw and Sami El Yamani also came close for Tynecastle, but both efforts were batted away by McFadden.

The score was 1-1 at full-time and both teams could feel they had done enough to win.

Twenty minutes of extra time were played to try decide the winner of the match. However, with fatigue setting in for both teams, there were few clear-cut chances.

The best of those came early on for Spartans. A free-kick into the box was missed by nearly everyone. The keeper initially misjudged the flight of the ball, but did well to recover, fighting his way through the goalline scramble before getting two hands safely on the ball.

With the score remaining 1-1 after extra time, the match was taken to penalties.

Spartans won the shoot-out 4-2 with Campbell Swanson, Christopher Cameron, Nicholas Reid and Harry Maguire scoring the decisive goals.

• Tynecastle Under-15s celebrated earlier on Sunday after they defeated Leith Athletic 2-0 to secure their place in the semi-final of the John McConnell Memorial Cup.

Both teams applied pressure, but Tyncastle were sure to make the most of their chances created.

Josh Ferguson grabbed the first goal of the match after his free-kick found the back of the net and Bailey Simmons secured victory for his side after firing home from close range in the second half.

In a Division 2 mid-table clash between Peebles FC U14s and Edinburgh City, it was the latter who walked away with the three points.

Despite being evenly matched on paper, City’s Kais Safdar shocked his opponents by finding the net on three occasions to claim his hat-trick.

Peebles’ over-reliance on long-balls to the men up front was handled well by the City defence.

They did manage to claw one goal back late in added time, but it was too little too late and the game ended 3-1.