Kirkcaldy & Dysart FC earn historic chance to win first cup in club's history

New YM gaffer Conrad Courts will now lead his side out in the Alex Jack Cup final against Whitburn Juniors on Sunday, December 1, after last Saturday’s capital success which saw K & D twice lead through goals by Keane Whittet and Finlay Shearer but South force extra-time at 2-2 courtesy of Fletcher Hendry’s header and Blake Wales’s shot.

The hosts struck the bar with their first shoot-out penalty by Wales, with YM keeper Dion Gear later saving their final spot kick from Reece Standen. Successful in the shoot-out for K & D were Jack Wilson, Scott Dunn and Ryan Kelly, before the clincher by 17-year-old James Linton.

And delighted manager Courts – whose East of Scotland Football League first division side will start the final against premier division Whitburn as big underdogs in only their third final in 35 years – said: "Reaching a final so soon after taking over at the club has 100% surpassed expectations.

"With so few players I had at the start of the season and all the players I’ve had to bring in, obviously it takes time for them to gel.

"But they’re a great group of boys and there’s a good balance in the team. We’ve got more than enough quality in the squad to compete against the so called big teams.

“Probably the first 20 minutes of the second half I felt we were under pressure. But after we weathered that storm the game was more a battle in the middle of the park.

"We had a few good chances to win it towards the end as well.

"Then when it got to extra-time, Dion Gear our goalie had a couple of absolutely unbelievable saves.

"And James Linton, 17 years old, steps up for the fifth penalty to win it. For a young boy he probably would have been feeling under massive pressure to take that last penalty.

"I was greatly impressed when he slotted it away. He might have missed it because of the pressure situation.

"For the young boy to deal with it, take it on his shoulders and go up there and take the fifth penalty, you need guts for that.”

On the upcoming showpiece against Whitburn, Courts added: “It’s going to be a massive challenge but we will go into the game with belief. I’m a firm believer that the big games will take care of themselves.

"Normally it’s the team that turns out and wants it more that will win. It is a cup final – for which the venue is still to be decided – so a lot of players will be nervous. We kind of have to manage that.

"Winning would be massive. In the east of Scotland, with so many teams competing, it’s not easy to get to a cup final.

"It’s a great achievement and I just hope that the boys can keep going for one more game and lift the trophy. They probably deserve it for the commitment and effort that they’ve shown me.

"If it turns out that it isn’t our day it will not be for the want of trying.

"A couple of weeks ago we took top flight Musselburgh – who are actually sitting above Whitburn – to extra-time (at 0-0 in an away South Challenge Cup third round tie which the YM eventually lost 2-0) and for large parts of that we were probably the better team. On another day we could have won that because we had three or four really good chances in the first half that we didn’t take and we got punished for it.

"Going in against Whitburn it will kind of be the same. So we just need to make sure that if we get chances we take them.”

Courts revealed that, since arriving at the YM, he has preached to his players that he doesn’t want them to play ‘boring’ long ball football.

He added: "We don’t really do loads of running at training. Anything that we do all evolves around the ball and we have wee possession games.

“It’s all to create that intensity, although we have had to go that wee bit more direct in the last couple of games because the parks have been that bit more heavy and bumpy. It’s maybe not suited us.

"But we are also showing that we will be a physical match to other teams over the winter months.”

K & D, ninth in the first division with 13 points from 10 matches, host Lochore Welfare in the league this Saturday with kick-off at 2pm.