Petershill supporters breathed a huge sigh of relief yesterday after the Springburn side took the Euroscot Eng League Cup honours with a 4-2 penalty kick shoot-out defeat of city rivals Vale of Clyde

The Tin Pail had stoically battled out a 1-1 regulation time score to make a mockery of bookmakers odds rating Petershill as 1/5 odds on favourites to lift the silverware s and it was no surprise to see Tollcross followers in the 600 plus watching throng staying on after the shoot-out drama to applaud their team’s efforts.

Willie Patterson’s men conceded a first minute goal in each of their two previous contests going into the Somervell Park finale and they were yet again guilty of being slow out of the blocks in falling 1-0 behind with only two minutes played.

A quickfire passing move down the Vale right flank saw Ryan Connolly find experienced head James McKinstry whose raking crossfield ball picked out new striker signing Scott McManus and he skipped all too easily past marker Fraser Chisholm before firing home a shot that found the net despite the best efforts of Peasy goalkeeper Stevie McNeil .

The on loan Queens Park front man had even earlier come close with a snapshot saved by McNeil and he then rattled the crossbar with a diving header just minutes after his opening goal.

McManus and Connolly’s movement continued to cause problems for the higher league defenders throughout the remainder of the first half while Petershill by comparison were shot shy and posing little attacking threat .

Team boss Patterson admitted he was glad to hear the half time whistle .

He said ,” We just never got started and could easily have been dead and buried if Vale of Clyde had taken their chances so getting the players inside to regroup and re-organise was pivotal to us turning things around.

“And to be fair we made it a game of two halves by exerting a lot of pressure and camping in and around their penalty box ”

Vale keeper Jon Connolly went from being a virtual spectator in the first 45 minutes to the one of the busiest men afield along with his centrebacks Dean Currie and Joe Doyle as Petershill pressed relentlessly and fired a barrage of crosses goalward.

Connolly saved brilliantly to deny Jordan Kennedy and Michael Daly headers and luck was on his side as his goal remained intact when a Jamie Brough knockdown caused an almighty goalmouth scramble.

But even diehard Vale fans must have felt a goal was coming and in 76 minutes Brough rose to meet a clipped cross from Chris Craig (later named sponsors man of the match) and powered a header across goal that Daly nipped in front of Connolly to poke home for 1-1.

Suitably boosted the Super Premier outfit continued on the ascendancy until the final whistle but without ever looking like netting another goal .

The shoot-out was decided by Darren McLean firing home for the Peasy to clinch a 4-2 success and there were wild scenes of celebration as McNeil got his hands on the Euroscot silverware.

The experienced shotstopper - Petershill’s the only survivor on the pitch from when they last won the EuroscotEng trophy in 2011 insisted ,

” I don’t think anyone can deny we were the better team over the piece but why we want to make things so hard for ourselves is beyond me .”

Vale gaffer Ian Currie ,watching proceedings from the terracings because of serving out a dugout suspension admitted

“I’m a very proud manager following that display but a frustrated one at the same time because we could and should have won the game by half time.

“We totally ran over the top of a very good Petershill side and made them look out of sorts with our energy and ability to pass the ball .

“ But taking your chances when you come up against the so called bigger teams is crucial and we found that out to our cost today .”