The Football Nation Qualifying Cup Final...

It was a glorious Spring afternoon on Sunday 20th March as Edinburgh side Spartans took on East Kilbride in one of the country's oldest cup competitions - the Qualifying Cup. With the sun in Broxburn battling against the last remnants of winter chill, the stage was set for a great game.

The two sides shake hands before kick off.

As the official sponsors of the Qualifying Cup, we were in attendance to not only watch some football, but present the trophy to the winners as well. 

Spartans were the bookies' favourites before the match, and they certainly started the stronger of the two sides. They took the lead after 16 minutes when a short backpass allowed the forward through on goal. East Kilbride's goalkeeper Jacob Kean pulled of an excellent 1 on 1 save, but the rebound was drilled home by Davie Greenhill. 

It could have, and perhaps should have, been 2-0 on the 30 minute mark. Spartan's Keith Murray beat the offside trap, but with the keeper beaten saw his finish agonisingly strike the post.

We were doing a fair bit of bootspotting during the match, with several of the latest styles on display.

At the risk of using a good old-fashioned footballing cliche, the match really was a game of two halves. The first 45 saw Spartans go in at half time looking quite comfortable with their 1-0 lead. However, whatever East Kilbride manager Billy Ogilvie said to his players in the dressing room certainly worked. 

Suddenly the Kilby players were first to every ball, and before long they were level after a well-worked corner routine saw the ball fall to McBride, who lashed it home from close range.

A fantastic header from Sean Winter saw the turnaround complete on 64 minutes. It was a pinpoint cross from McBride and Winter powered it home.

Spartans barely had time to compose themselves before it was 3-1. Winter grabbed his second header of the day as he glanced a cross into the bottom corner. 

The match was well attended with enthusiastic support for both sides.

East Kilbride looked comfortable from that point onwards, and the icing on the cake came moments before the full time whistle. Anton Brady cut inside on the right hand corner of the box and expertly curled a wonderful left-footed strike into the top corner, echoing shades of Arsenal legend Denis Bergkamp.

It capped a stunning second half performance from East Kilbride and ensured departing manager Barry Ogilvie went out on a high. 

The players hoisted Ogilvie in the air during the celebrations.