YFS
An early Kelty Hearts opener wasn’t enough to prevent a well disciplined Glenrothes Strollers from lifting the Fife Cup. Expert finishes from Jack Mitchell and Craig Fleming sealed the trophy for the Strollers.
A blistery day at Treaton park was ready to welcome a frantic ninety minutes between the two sides who were very familiar with each other during their domestic seasons. Glenrothes were certainly the side that looked the most interested at the opening stages of the game. The first chance of the game was created by powerful full back Dylan Blyth who bombed down the left wing and delivered a mean cross that just missed the boot of Cameron Lewis from deep inside the box in the sixth minute of the match.
Glenrothes continued their early dominance through a flurry of corners which saw Thomas Gledinning have his header cleared off the line, which was quickly followed by Blyth having a close-range strike denied expertly by Kelty Heart’s goalkeeper Lewis Sinclair in the eigth minute.
After surviving the early flurry of chances, Kelty started moving up the pitch and creating chances for themselves. This was quickly rewarded by the opening goal of the final when Ben King somehow managed to knock down a precise ball to his striking partner Ryan Quinn who smashed the ball home in the 22nd minute of the match, putting Kelty in the lead.
Real end to end football was witnessed at Treaton Park for the remainder of the first half with the typhoon like conditions making the whole final even more dramatic as both sides were going full throttle on each other. Glenrothes were finally rewarded for their early pressure when Blyth went on another run and ending up being taken down in the box, earning his side a penalty and a fantastic chance to equalise. Which was exactly what happened when striker Jack Mitchell stepped up and slotted it coolly in the bottom right corner, in the 25th minute of the match.
Moments later, Kelty threatened to take the lead once again when deep lying playmaker Greg McHugh stepped up from around thirty yards and unleashed a mighty strike which cannoned off the bar in the 30th minute.
Blyth was right in the mix of it once again for Glenrothes, when Sinclair did well to tip over his looping free kick in the 40th minute. Craig Fleming came within inches from the resulting corner as his close-ranged header just flew over the bar. Soon after no nonsense defender James Perrie came up with an outrages overhead kick which clipped the crossbar and went out of play.
However, after pushing and pushing, Glenrothes finally took the lead for the first time in the final on the stroke of half time when Mitchell made some room for himself and threaded a ball through to tricky midfielder Lewis who has his shot tremendously saved by Sinclair but unfortunately for him his parry fell to the feet of Fleming who reacted the quickest and placed his effort into the empty net. Giving his side the lead in the concluding moment of the first half.