ONE-TIME Rossvale Juniors prospect Alex Cassells headed home the critical goal on Saturday that helped Petershill advance to the Evening Times Champions Cup at the expense of his former team.

The Springburn outfit eventually came good with a 4-2 penalty shoot-out victory following a 1-1 regulation time stalemate. However, it would be no exaggeration to say they survived a bit of a scare against a well-drilled Rossvale side, with four teenagers in their starting line-up, that had harboured dreams of a Cup upset when 1-0 up going into the closing quarter of the semi-final.

And the Peasy triumph came at a painful cost after winger Liam Finnigan went to ground in agony on the stroke of half time and was subsequently stretchered away with a suspected broken ankle.

Boss Willie Patterson said afterwards: “The hope is Liam’s injury is not as bad as first feared however his season is definitely ended and that’s tragic news for the lad who is not long back from a serious knee injury.

“His departure forced us into a reshuffle but without affecting our overall dominance of the game and our pressure eventually paid off with the goal from young Cash who in the last minute had a great chance to win the game only to lose his composure and fire the ball straight at their goalkeeper.

“That said, a late winner would have been unfair on Rossvale who were organised and so difficult to break down even if we didn’t help ourselves with a lack of scoring threat in the final third.

“We improved second half to grab a deserved equaliser however I was not over-confident at the penalty kicks because our recent record is not good, but thankfully the guys made a great job of sticking away their efforts.”

Former Pollok goalkeeper Zander Cowie was between the posts for Petershill and he was called into action just six minutes in to save a low drive by lively Rossvale forward Gary Giffin, who along with Kirk Forbes was to the fore whenever the visitors showed an attacking threat.

Petershill were on top but lacked any punch, and that came back to haunt them in 43 minutes when a swift Rossvale break led to Steven Seaton finding space to rifle a low shot past Cowie for a 1-0 lead.

A few home truths delivered during the half-time break saw a determined Petershill reappear to launch a number of attacking sorties on Rossvale’s penalty box and there were near things for both Chris Hall and Jason Hardie before Cassells was denied a certain score by an instinctive one-handed save from Vale goalkeeper Jamie Donnelly.

Something special was needed to break down the dogged visiting rearguard and it arrived from the left foot of Peasy substitute Scott McManus in 71 minutes when he cut inside from the right flank to hammer a shot goalwards that spiralled upwards after crashing off the crossbar, and Cassells reacted quickest to meet the ball coming down and head home from point-blank range.

The goalscorer, who was a 17-year-old striker for Rossvale in their only other Evening Times Cup appearance in 2015, admitted: “I took no particular satisfaction from scoring against my old club which only has a couple of my former team-mates still there, but it was a great feeling to see the ball hit the net even if I couldn’t really miss from that range.

“Moving to Petershill and holding down a place in a good team has not been easy but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this title-winning season and now we have the chance to put the icing on the cake with an Evening Times Cup win.

A suitably fired up Petershill continued on top over the closing stages but could not manage another and the contest went the way of spot kicks which had Cassells again netting along with Ian Gold, McManus and Hall, while Cowie diving correctly to save from Giffin and then Forbes striking the post ended Rossvale’s hopes.

Their manager Gordon Moffat said: “It’s disappointing to lose and particularly on penalty kicks but I am just immensely proud of these players.

“To play so well with eight regulars missing against a team of Petershill’s stature is beyond our expectations and it might not be our day but I cannot fault the players for their efforts.”

There was high drama elsewhere after Beith were crowned Super Premier Division champions on the back of Joe Bradley (2), Darren Christie, Andy Reid, Jamie Cunningham and Ross McPherson goals clinching a 6-0 victory at home to Girvan.

Auchinleck Talbot had looked on course to pip Johnny Millar’s men to the title when they led arch-rivals Cumnock 2-0 through goals from Gordon Pope and Dwayne Hyslop at Townhead Park, but Del Esplin and Jamie Hilton levelled matters for a battling Nock and the resulting 2-2 draw saw Talbot agonisingly finish one point adrift of the Mighty.

Meanwhile, the door to a possible Super First Division place was opened for fourth-place Central First Division side Neilston after Andy Skinner scored the only goal of the game to help Greenock beat Wishaw 1-0 and end the Lanarkshire club’s dream of landing a play-off spot against Shettleston, who were themselves in weekend action losing 4-2 against New Coin Holdings Cup opponents Darvel, for whom Jordan Ryan and Greg Vernon bagged doubles.

WEEKEND RESULTS: Evening Times Champions Cup.Semi Final.Petershill 1 Rossvale 1(Rossvale win 4-2 pens).McBookie.com Super Premier Division. Beith 6 Girvan 0 , Cumnock 2 Auchinleck Talbot 2, Hurlford Utd 6 Clydebank 3, Rob Roy 2 Glenafton 0. McBookie.com Super First Division Cumbernauld Utd v Largs Thistle McBookie.com Central First Division. Greenock 1Wishaw 0.McBookie.com Ayrshire District League. Whitletts Vics 4 Dalry Thistle 4.New Coin Holdings West of Scotland Cup.3rd Round.Darvel 4 Shettleston 2.

PLAYING TONIGHT(Kick Off 7.30 PM): McBookie.com Super Premier Division. Hurlford Utd v Girvan.McBookie.com Central First Division. Port Glasgow v Wishaw.

New Coin Holdings West of Scotland Cup.3rd Round.Cambuslang Rangers v Pollok. Quarter Final.Darvel v Rob Roy. Ayrshire Cup.Semi Final. Kilwinning Rangers v Beith.