Culter reached the North Regional Cup final for the first time in nine years with a comprehensive 5-1 Crombie Park victory over holders East End.
They now face Rothie Rovers at Colony Park early next month in the competition’s climax.
Ross Clark’s early brace inside the first 10 minutes set the tone for the clash and, although the visitors pulled one back shortly afterwards thanks to an own goal, Ryan Smart restored Culter’s two-goal advantage before the interval.
With a quarter of an hour remaining, top scorer Cammy Fraser converted from the penalty spot and Clark completed his hat-trick on 85 minutes to make it five.
‘Chuffed with the result’
Crombie Park manager Lee Youngson was understandably happy with his team’s performance.
He said: “I’m chuffed with the result, East End have a good side and have shown for a while now that they can compete with anyone – so to win so convincingly in a semi-final was really pleasing.
“The quick start helped – we were 2-0 ahead inside 10 minutes and we were worthy of that.
“East End responded well and got themselves back in the game, but from that point we looked like the team that would go score the next goal and we did that to go in at the break 3-1 ahead.
“In the second half we controlled the game well and added more goals, so overall it was a pleasing result and excellent to get to another final.
“The players have been excellent so far this season and deserve credit for that.
“We’ve won 30 and drawn two in 34 games, and 22 games have been away from home.
“We won the Grill Cup in October, are now in the final of the Regional Cup, semi-final of the McLeman Cup and still maintain our advantage in the league.
“We’ve had to go to Hermes four times and win three cup games there – that in its own right takes some doing.
“However, things can change very quickly in football. We said that after the game on Saturday.
‘Committee and supporters deserve’ excitement
“For how good the season’s been, it counts for nothing until your sitting with something to show for it in May.
“We have eight cup finals to go, and in each game, we need to be at it if we want to achieve more success this season.
“It’s going to be tough playing in every competition locally including the league, but we’ve got a good group, they know we need to keep winning games, so that’s the aim. We’ll focus on winning the next one and see where we end up.
“It’s been good bringing some excitement back to the club and village, the committee and supporters deserve that.
“Overall we’re in a good place at the moment, but we need to keep working hard and remain focused on winning the next game.”
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