Youths: Injury halts cup semi-final between Leith and City Blacks

The Under-15 South East Region Cup semi-final between Edinburgh City Blacks and Leith Athletic was abandoned in the second half with the latter team 1-0 up due to an ambulance having to be called following a nasty injury suffered by one of their players.

There hadn’t much between the teams but Leith did have more in the way of attacking threat. Rhys McMurdo was played in by Thomas Ramage on seven minutes but his low shot was comfortable for Jamie Rae.

Ramage was the supplier again for Rory Hunter’s goal, working it into the striker’s feet. He still had a lot to do, and he held off a defender as he turned and struck through the ball beautifully before watching it smack the bar, bounce down and back up again into the net.

Ramage then had a low shot himself which was saved, and McMurdo was played in again but put his effort was too close to the keeper.

City were very much in the game and played some nice stuff, but didn’t create anything which could be described at clear-cut until the 38th minute. A delicious cross from Euan Gillespie was begging to be buried and Grant Herbert got his head to it. However, Jamie Smith sprung from his goal to divert the ball out for a corner.

A half-chance for Blacks’ Gavin Mabon was all there was to speak of in the second half before the game had to be stopped as a Leith player suffered a serious injury and medical assistance was required.

Elsewhere, Salvesen 17s battled to a 3-2 victory at Dunbar in Division Two.

A low drive from Emre Kadaduman gave Salvesen the lead, but Ricky Stewart equalised before the break. Stewart got his second to give the home side the lead when he beat the keeper with a header, but Salvesen quickly came back again with Keir Hislop equalising with a header from a corner. The momentum stayed with the visitors and yet another header won it for them – Greg Sinclair with the finishing touch from Joseph Saddler’s delivery.

Longniddry Villa 14s will face Gala Fairydean Rovers in the David Innes Cup final after beating Musselburgh Windsor Blues 2-1 in the last four. Villa raced into a two-goal lead in the first 25 minutes through a Thierry Murray strike and Kai Brown tap-in, but Josh Murray hit back with a dipping shot from 25 yards before the break. Both sides hit the woodwork in the second half and Blues’ Josh Findlay went one-on-one only to be denied by a great save by the keeper.

In a tight game with chances for both sides, it was Arniston Rangers 13s who managed to convert two of theirs to beat Redhall Star 2-0. After a first-half stalemate, Ross Durnion capped a good performance by opening the scoring, and then crossing for Chris Banks, who finished to secure a much-needed win against a team several places higher in Division Two.

Spartans 16s made it into the third round of the Jackie Faichney Memorial Trophy with a 3-2 victory over Musselburgh Windsor, thanks to a Nicky Reid double which sandwiched a Keir Russell penalty.

Windsor, whose threadbare squad’s efforts were praised by coach Colin Young, scored through Ciaran Young and Dalziel Cron.