Albion Rovers Under-21s boss Daniel Mossie is “buzzing” to have led his side into a cup final, and hopes to get a large crowd to the showpiece at Broadwood in May.
Rovers blitzed their way to the League Cup final with a 7-1 semi-final win over Glasgow Blacks at St Ambrose High on Sunday and will now meet Cumbernauld Colts at the Cumbernauld stadium on Sunday, May 8.
Mossie concedes that Colts have ‘home’ advantage, but is just delighted to have reached the final, courtesy of a Hugh Stuart hat-trick and strikes by Dean Neilson, Callum Wilson, Declan Monie and Kyle Hutcheson.
He said: “It was a bit of a nervy start, the Glasgow side had better chances than us, but then we scored before half-time through Dean Neilson, which settled our nerves.
“It took us into half-time when we showed a bit more confidence, and as soon as we scored our third goal it put the game to bed, we just flew from there.
“We showed how we can play, pass the ball about, take our chances when needed, and capitalise.
“We have quite an attacking formation, we don’t always sit back or anything, and on Sunday we played a 4-2-3-1 and defended as a 4-4-2.
“When we progressed and calmed down on the ball we did well, got the win, and it took us to the final.
“I’m buzzing, but it’s for all the other coaches and the players, it was them who fought for it, so it’s more their final than ours – they deserve all the credit.”
Fans can go to the final at Broadwood, and Mossie hopes they take the opportunity to see Rovers in a game like that.
He said: “It’s a fiver in and under-12s are free, and it would be great to get a good crowd in.
“We had a great crowd on Sunday, I saw a lot of Rovers fans down there supporting the boys, which was fantastic to see, but if we could get more and more it would be brilliant.
“I’d love to see more of the club there as well, we’re trying to get everybody involved as much as we can – it’s not often you see ‘Rovers’ and ‘a final’ together!”
Mossie says the under-21s are doing well this season and could soon be knocking on the door of boss Brian Reid for a place in the first-team.
He said: “Never say never; we’ve already lost a few to the reserves and the first-team before.
“We have two playing with us just now in Ryan Delahay and Craig Taylor, until the League Cup is done, and we’ve got a couple of others who are training with the first-team.
“The reserve manager Graham Livingstone is coming along to all of our matches as well, so he knows what he’s looking for, and is constantly using our players.
“We’re getting our name out there, and we’ve just recently signed Chris Silvestro, who is the son of Chris Silvestro, who played with Rovers and Raith Rovers and we’re getting names like that.”
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