Leith Atheltic were crowned East of Scotland Alex Jack Cup winners on Sunday with a great win over Peebles Rovers.
Three in a row was the words being sung in the visitors changing room at Innerleithen yesterday after a Keith Murray hat-trick and a Ger Rossi own goal seen Leith Athletic win the Alex Jack cup for the third time in as many seasons and for the fourth time in six years.
Both teams battled with a heavy pitch and poor conditions under-foot seen a number of misplaced passes and players ending up on the turf having lost their footing.
Leith broke down the left in the 12th minute and a cross from Robbie Mason seen no-one in the box to capitalise. The ball was picked up by Daniel McAleavey and his long ball down the line seen Scott Sutherland latch onto the ball. A mix up in the Leith defence seen Sutherland drive into the box and he was upended by Iain Gordon. Captain, Jim Young stepped up to take the spot kick, sending Gordon the wrong way to give Peebles the lead.
Buoyed by their goal, Peebles grew in confidence and striker Sutherland was on the end of another long ball from the back, but Neil Lowson done well to get back goal-side to clear the ball from danger.
Just before the break, Leith were back on level terms. A quick free kick by Grant Burns, seen the ball played to Jamie Lauder. His effort from 25 yards wasn’t held by Darren Walker and Keith Murray reacted first to prod the ball home.
Leith came flying out of the traps second half and immediately put the Peebles defence under pressure. A corner from the right by Lauder in the 50th minute was headed goal-wards by Lewis Martin, but his effort came off the top of the crossbar before being cleared to safety.
A set piece put Leith in front after good work down the left by Kenny hall seen a corner kick awarded. Burns swung the ball in and Peebles midfielder Gerri Rossi put the ball into his own net.
Leith manager Derek Riddell spoke after the match.
With Peebles looking to get back into the game, the play was stretched and Leith capitalised on the space on 71 minutes. Lauder picked up the ball at the edge of his own box and played a pass through to Martin. His through ball to Murray seen the striker one on one with Walker. The striker beat Walker and despite a Peebles defender on the line, Murray slotted home.
Just five minutes later, Murray got his third of the game and sealed victory for the side from Leith. Burns played the ball through to Mason and with Peebles claiming for offside, Mason ran through on goal and unselfishly played the ball into the path of Murray for the striker to complete his hat-trick. In the aftermath of the goal, Jonathan Flockhart was sent off for Peebles after picking up a second booking for dissent.
The Leith gaffer spoke to us after the game, you can listen to what he had so say below.
Comments are closed.