On Sunday 14th January, Corstorphine Dynamo Under 15 (CDU15) team played in the Semi-Final of the Fife and Lothians Cup at Forrester High School against North Merchiston whites. What a performance!

A brilliant 2-1 win against a North Merchiston Whites (NMW) team that were hot favourites to win the tie. It was a brilliant effort by the boys, a real backs to the wall job at times, but the sheer grit and determination from the team saw them over the line and into the Final.

We knew it was going to be a difficult game and through training in the previous weeks had practiced a formation and approach to the game. NMW came down from Division 3 last season and are second in the league having only lost to top of the table North Berwick this season. As anticipated, the game started with NMW dominating possession, but with little to show for it until after 15 minutes they scored from a penetrating run through our defence. Shortly after Pablo Simon made a fantastic counter attacking run down the left and made a cross into the box for Sriram Seshabhattar to score. With 15 minutes to go in the first half Sriram made a run down the right crossing into the box for Pablo Simon to score from a great header. First half finished 2-1 to CDU15.

The second half saw NMW go even more on the offensive making a number of substitutes and changing to 3 at the back. CDU15 soaked up wave after wave of attacks with some amazing defending and a number of significant chances for CDU15 to extend our lead on the counter attack, it turned into an real end to end thriller.

With 2 minutes to go NMW committed their goalkeeper forward for a corner which was headed clear to a NMW defender. Sriram took the ball from the defender and out ran the retreating NMW defence to make it 3-1, well so we thought. The ref ruled the goal out saying supporters and subs had spilled onto the pitch before the ball had hit the net. We played out the next 2 minutes and when the final whistle blew there was a roar from the large number of spectators who turned up to watch the game. A great spirited performance.

A quote from David Smith who has had a major role in youth football in the area: 'It's a long time since I have become emotional over a game of football at youth level, but the boys will to win and fantastic team spirit triumphed in the face of a tough opponent. The boys are a fantastic group, polite, pleasant young lads who are very respectful to me personally. It's great to be back watching youth football and there's no place I'd rather be on a Sunday afternoon than watching the Dynamo Under 15. I'm looking forward to the Final!'

We face top of the table North Berwick in the final on a date TBC.