Cove Rangers' Balmoral Stadium played host on a blustery day as the North region’s Under 16’s faced off against their Eastern counterparts.

High winds were always bound to play a part in the fixture, which benefited from otherwise perfect conditions and a top standard playing surface.

North dominated the early stages of the game. Number ten Logan Watt – who was very much playing as a number ten – was part of the bulk of the North attacks. First Watt’s effort following a loose ball falling his way was straight at the goalkeeper. His ball out wide to winger Jordan Lynch also resulted in Lynch getting a shot off – but it was saved by East’s number one Craig Doctor.

Next it was the turn of North’s goalie – Jamie Williamson – to make a save. He rushed out to meet Rudy Bou as the East player made a cutting run in from the right hand side. Williamson made a timely block with his chest.

North’s Lewis McDonald had the next close call – he turned on the ball just outside the area before flashing a shot over the bar – a warning to the East defenders not to give him too much time on the ball.

The game was beginning to have an end-to-end feeling, and as that would suggest – East were next up to have an opportunity. Jack Reid’s surging run put him into the box on the wide right and just as it looked like he’d have a shooting opportunity, defender Tait Duthie came sliding in with a fantastic challenge – putting it out for a corner.

At this point North were beginning to control possession, but East looked increasingly dangerous on the counter-attack. Making it a difficult game to call.

McDonald had a repeat of his earlier chance – although this time slightly further in – again, it had the East goalkeeper Doctor thinking, this one came even closer to dipping into the net, but had the same result as the stalemate continued.

The game was no longer goalless just moments later. With just under five minutes to go in the first half, East took the lead. The away side’s striker Connor Reid chased down a loose ball, forcing a back pass which goalkeeper Williamson attempted to clear – only to see the clearance cannon off of Reid and into the net.

The game would go into the break with East leading 1-0.

North came flying out the traps looking to find an equaliser, and they almost found one via Lynch’s header just a couple minutes into the second half – but it cleared Doctor’s crossbar.

North had made a change in their goal for the remainder of the match – Murray Burns replacing the departing Williamson. Burns was almost picking the ball out of his net just five minutes into his appearance. Jack Nicol showed good dribbling ability as he cut inside, passing to Robbie Hall, who’s shot curled just wide of the goal.

15 minutes into the second half and it was East who would score again – doubling their lead – A scuffed ball fell to Nicol, his shot was well blocked by the North defender, but with another two of his teammates attempting to block the original shot, that left Darren Walker to sneak in at the back post and tap the ball into the net.

A big hit like that needed a response from North, and it took them just one minute to offer one. A through ball Lynch had the goalkeeper scrambling to come out and block off his path. Doctor avoided playing it off the runner as his opposite number had done in the first half – but unfortunately for him, his clearance fell to Greg Main, who from just outside the box knocked the ball into an empty net – 2-1.

North fought to get back into the game, which as a result began to resemble more of a scrappy affair. Both sides were mounting attacks, although they weren’t coming to much, with some decent defending on show.

Both teams also learned their lessons that a long ball game wasn’t all that effective, with the unpredictable Aberdeen wind making such a tactic particularly ineffective.

Nicol almost wrapped up the game with about 15 minutes to go as he was set through 1v1 with the goalkeeper, his sliding shot rebounded off of both posts before being cleared.

Just a few minutes later the game was fairly wrapped up and it was Jack Nicol causing all the issues for North again. Nicol got the ball wide right, skipping inside past his man to curl the ball into the far left bottom corner of Burns. At 3-1 the game seemed dead and buried for East.

Very little of note happened after the goal, as East looked to see the game out. However East’s substitute goalkeeper Kian Logan did make a few saves – making an impression off of the bench.

The final score would be 3-1 to the away side, which in the end was a much deserved success.