Blucher Blue Star broke Amble Tavern hearts on Sunday morning, edging the North Northumberland side 4-3 at the death as they denied a third straight Sunday Cup for the back-to-back winners.

Goalscoring hero Robbie Frame completed a first-half hat-trick for the West End side, most notably lobbing the ‘keeper from an acute angle and bouncing the ball into the back of the net with an Amble defender failing to clear off the line.

“I’m buzzing. My second goal was a bit lucky, I thought it was going to come off the bar,” said the former Ryton and Crawcrook Albion player.

A brilliant comeback from Amble was on the cards until the final seconds of the first half when Captain Josh Hay was dismissed for following through when challenging the ‘keeper to a diagonal ball, leaving his team to play the second half a goal down with ten men.

The second half produced saw the tempo drop as Blue Star opted to see the game out. However, Phil Airey had other plans as the Amble midfielder miraculously drew his team level to 3-3 with just 12 minutes of normal time to play.

But it was an injury time mistake from goalkeeper Patterson which allowed Blue Star’s Kevin Smith to snatch the victory for the underdogs – much to the despair of the white shirts who thought they had forced extra time at Whitley Park.

“We didn’t know they had won it the previous two years,” added Frame.

“But we always had the belief. It’s normally easier with a sending off but it turned out to be a little bit more difficult.

“Our manager at half time said to change how we are playing and get in behind them – and it worked in the end.”

Article by Dan Simmonite