The University of Stirling men’s firsts booked their place in the East of Scotland Cup Final after a dominant 4-1 win over Kelty Hearts, a team playing two leagues above them.
Goals from Cameron McKinley, Alex Jeanes, and a double from defender Jake Service downed the League One outfit, in what was a truly remarkable result for the Uni.
Head Coach Chris Geddes said: “I’m very proud. Considering the opposition, considering we were away from home, considering we had a tough game against the Lowland League leaders on the weekend.
“To then put a performance like that in. Outstanding to be honest, to a man.”
Man of the match Jake Service said: “I thought it was a really good performance. Not just from me but from all the boys and personally to get two goals is good because I’ve not been scoring recently, so it’s good to get a few goals added to the tally for the season.”
Both teams came out with high intensity. Kelty Hearts were keen to impose themselves on the students, while the students wanted to show they belonged.
The home side emphasised stretching the Uni’s backline by launching line-breaking passes from deep to their forwards. These balls continued to cause problems for the students in the first half, with Yan Gromov Godik making a couple of big saves to keep Kelty out.
But the straw finally broke in the 27th minute, after another deep pass found its way to Aberdeen loanee Alfie Bavidge, who held off his man and bobbled the ball home for Kelty’s opener.
The Uni team did not let off though and began crafting a couple of chances themselves. James Stokes went close with a volley, while Alex Jeanes just misfired an impressive Uni attack involving neat interplay between Marcus Lavery and Ben Maciver-Redwood.
Uni got a deserved equaliser 4 minutes before halftime. A corner from the right sailed all the way over to Jake Service, who smashed the ball into the net from close range.
A minute into the second half, Uni took the lead. A longing ball to the back stick from Lavery found McKinley who calmy headed it across to Jeanes for an easy tap-in.
Uni upped their pressure and intensity, energised by their shock lead, while Kelty’s control began to wane.
Botti Biabi had the best chance for the home side in the second half, with a speculative overhead kick going wide of the Uni goal.
Uni Top scorer Cammy McKinley headed in for the third after a brilliant cross from Ben Heal. An important two-goal cushion.
And before the traveling support could calm down, Jake Service had the ball in the net again, for Stirling’s fourth of the game.
The students saw out the remaining half hour of the game to cap off a truly remarkable performance. Edinburgh City FC awaits in the EOS Cup final, which will be another opportunity for the players to test themselves against League One opposition.
But until then there are still plenty of games to focus on. The students go back to league action against Hearts B on Sunday.
University of Stirling: Gromov-Godik, Aslanoglu, Service, Lavery, De Zoeten (Scally 75), Russell, Heal (Malcolm 87), Stokes (McAninch 82), McKinley (Vonk 87), Maciver-Redwood (Docherty 87), Jeanes.