MOTHERWELL clinched the Youth Cup for the first time in the club’s history with a 5-2 victory over Hearts at Hampden.
It was only the second time the Fir Park outfit had made it to the final, the previous occasion coming in a 2-1 defeat to Celtic back in 1987.
They may have made it difficult for themselves at time at the National Stadium, but they always looked more likely to lift the silverware that commemorates the 25th anniversary of the last time Motherwell won a trophy in the Scottish Cup back in 1991.
The Steelmen, managed by former captain Stephen Craigan, had several first-team players in their ranks and it was this experience that ultimately made the difference.
On 21 minutes it was the free-kick from Dom Thomas that caused problems for Hearts keeper Kelby Mason who dropped the cross at the feet of Dylan Mackin for the striker to hook the ball home.
Seven minutes later it was two with Mark McGhee regular Chris Cadden getting the crucial strike. Allan Campbell jinked into the box before a stray leg sent the ball to the Well captain, and his low shot deflected off Daniel Baur and by his own keeper.
Motherwell were cruising at this point but Jon Daly’s Hearts would get a lifeline on the stroke of half-time. A soft free-kick on the edge of the area allowed Jordan McGhee the chance to bend a low shot that flew into the bottom corner.
It was a one-goal deficit that only lasted to the hour mark. A Thomas corner was flicked on at the near post with the Hearts defence flapping only for David Ferguson to slam the loose ball home at the back post.
While Motherwell looked commanding, they would again leave the door open for the Tynecastle club to get another lifeline. It was centre-half Ben Hall who made the slip on the edge of his own box. It allowed Dario Zanatta to ghost in, round Brett Long and squeeze the ball in.
However, The team from Lanarkshire would not be denied their first piece of silverware since the days of Phil O’Donnell, Davie Cooper and Stevie Kirk.
It was the two late substitutes that clinched it as Robbie Leitch and Dylan Falconer provided great finishes to top off an historic night for Motherwell Football Club.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here