Fraser Heigh scored with an outrageous deflection in the final quarter to secure Grange’s passage into the quarter-final of the Scottish Cup against a side named after his former school.
The rising star, who won bronze with Great Britain uner-21 in an invitational international tournament in Malaysia earlier this month, angled his stick with his back to goal to intercept a pass from the right wing and the ball flew low into the net between the surprised goalkeeper and the post.
It was the outstanding moment from a huge young talent who just happens to be a former pupil of George Watson’s College.
Heigh and another Watsons FP, Duncan Riddell, stood out with their pace and power running as Grange, the current men’s Premiership leaders, earned a 3-1 victory over hard-working Watsonians at Fettes.
Grange went ahead early but Watsonians levelled at 1-1 before the break, but captain David Forrester, a Scottish international goalkeeper, said: “Conceding the goal was disappointing and Watsonians scored against the run of play, but we kept our heads and we controlled the game from then. I as not overly worried that we were going to lose out.”
It was, said Forrester, a satisfying weekend having consolidated top spot in the 12-strong Premiership table with a 5-2 league win at lowly Dunfermline Carnegie on Saturday, enjoying real dominance but finding it difficult to translate that into goals, but the Edinburgh side, runners-up last season in the league, go into the winter break one point ahead of defending champions, Western Wildcats, who won the Grand Slam last term.
Forrester added: “The first part of the season has been almost perfect apart from the dropped point against Edinburgh University in a 3-3 draw. We have a young team but we are top of the league and into the quarter-final of the cup. We can’t complain.
“It was our target to be sitting top by the break and we have achieved that and we have shown real character this season. Against Clydesdale and Edinburgh University we had our backs against the wall,t but pulled it out at the end.”
Heigh, a constant threat, top scored with two goals in the victory. Rory McCann netted the other while David Nairn and Gordon Amour created space in midfield and Riddell rampaged down the wing causing Watsonians real problems.
Ronan Kingsbury netted for Watsonians and Tom Swarbrick, Watsonians skipper, said Grange had a lot of pressure second-half but his men, he said, played well in spells however he admitted: “We lacked overall consistency.”
Watsonians lost player/coach Dan Coutlas, a former Great Britain squad player, with a badly gashed knee in the first-half, which considerably affected their chances, and Swarbrick said: “It would have been good to get something out of the game, and we pushed them, but, to be honest, they had more chances than we did.”
PICTURE: Fraser Heigh (left) battling for the ball in the Watsonians area by Nigel Duncan
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