‘hearts’ Ride Out The Storm

The Colts welcomed Cupar Hearts to Myre Park on a miserably wet day throughout Scotland, but it didn’t spoil the sides serving up an even game which was edged by the visitors.

The home side started the brighter and a good chance fell to Simon Sanaghan in the first minute after a lay back from Kieran Wilson, but Simmie’s shot flew just over. Callum Grindlay also produced a good save from the Cupar keeper in the 7th minute after a good break by Andrew Reade; the keeper pouncing onto the loose ball from the shot before Reade could go in for the follow up.

Cupar took the lead in the 18th minute when Baker was on hand to nod home from close range after Mark Robertson got a good hand to stop a shot but the ball fell invitingly for the Cupar man to finish.

It was a fairly even opening 45 minutes but with signs of things getting heated. That changed a bit when Sanaghan was shown a straight red for a foul on Sibanda just after half time. The visitors stepped up a gear and doubled their advantage on 53 minutes when Scott Powrie was helpless to divert a dangerous ball into the six-yard box into his own net.

The Colts kept battling away and Forrester had a good chance when he broke through but couldn’t hit the target, whilst substitute Dan Kenny could have hoped for a better outcome from his dangerous ball across the Cupar goal but failing to find a goalbound connection it deserved.

In the closing stages set up a grandstand finish when Kenny flicked home Mitchell Baldwin’s deep free kick into the Cupar penalty area in the 89th minute to make it 2-1.

As the home side pushed for that late equaliser, it left them exposed at the back and a sudden break sent Cupar through on goal, Baldwin chasing back clipped the heals of the striker as he was about to pull the trigger in the 93rd minute. Baldwin, expectedly, received a straight red leaving the 9 men to face the free kick on the edge of the area with the last kick of the game. Hutchison’s free kick found his way past the wall into the bottom corner of the net for a 3-1 scoreline that was perhaps not a totally fair reflection of the game.