Scottish Junior Cup Reports

Scottish Junior Cup Round 2

Burghead Thistle 2 Lugar Boswell Thistle 5

Saturday 25th October 2014

 

A 6 hour bus trip did little to dampen the spirits of the Jaggy Bunnets as they looked forward to putting the disappointment of last week’s West of Scotland Cup exit behind them. The tail end of last week’s hurricane still seemed to be blasting through the forest clearing that housed the picturesque venue of Forest Park close to the Moray Coast village of Burghead, and it was to have quite a bearing on the game.

Lugar won the toss and elected to have the storm class wind behind them and from the outset it was clear they intended to push forward to try to make this advantage work in their favour.

An Alan Orr free kick from around 35 yards out was just tipped round the post by Burghead keeper, Cal Robinson. Then from the resultant corner, Jordan Mullen, somehow managed to head wide from inside the 6 yard box when it seemed easier to score. Roddy Paterson then produced a good save from Robinson when he was clean through on goal. Lugar were throwing everything at the homesters and a cross from Chris Todd almost caught out the defence, Allan Paterson got behind the defence but his shot went weakly behind then a Darren Biggart free kick had to be parried away by Robinson.

Burghead seldom ventured into Lugar’s half but one foray did produce an effort on goal although James McLaren’s shot was well off target. Play went back the other way and a Marti Watt shot was easily held by the home keeper. Another Watt effort was parried away by Robinson, this time it landed at Roddy Paterson who turned and shot only to see the ball rattle the crossbar.

Lugar’s almost constant pressure eventually paid off in the 27th minute, an Orr long throw from near the corner flag was fumbled at the near post by Robinson and the ball dropped kindly for Watt, who shrugged off the attentions of a defender to prod the ball over the line for the opening goal. Knowing that one goal might not be enough to take into the second half, Lugar continued to lay siege to the Burghead goal and they doubled their lead in the 41st minute. Another Orr long throw found Steven Shankland at the edge of the 6 yard box and his looping header caused another fumble by Robinson, this time the momentum of the header carried the ball into the net. Robinson’s nightmare was set to continue as 2 minutes later Orr was scythed down on the edge of the box by John Leggat, the Burghead defender might consider himself lucky to remain on the park as referee Richard Riddoch only produced a yellow card. Orr recovered without treatment and took the free kick himself, the low shot into the box should have been cleared but the near post defender, Kevin Grant, miskicked the clearance and a tussle between Robinson and Craig Muir saw the Lugar skipper force the ball over the line for a 3 nil lead at the break.

If Burghead thought that Lugar were going to be happy with their 3 goal lead playing against the hurricane, they didn’t show the script to the visitors. The travelling Jaggy Bunnet fans were treated to some efforts from Orr, Biggart, Roddy Paterson and Allan Paterson with Burghead desperately holding on. Their own efforts only coming with hopeful long range efforts that didn’t ever look like troubling the Lugar defence. Keeper Ryan Kelly was even asked if he’d paid his admission as a spectator, as his only involvement seemed to be the taking of the resultant by kicks. He was however called into action in the 65th minute following a free kick. Grant’s free kick from the corner of the penalty box cannoned off the wall into the path of McLaren. The Burghead winger’s powerful shot produced a good save from Kelly as he pushed it over for a corner.

Lugar again went on the offensive and another surging run from Allan Paterson saw the Boswell player through on the keeper. Robinson produced a fine stop but the loose ball was thundered into the net by Shankland to make it 4 nil to the visitors with 15 minutes left to play. The action wasn’t over though and 2 minutes later, Allan Paterson was again involved. This time he got on the end of an Ian McCreadie cross and his shot was blocked by Ian Lunan, the ball broke to Watt and again the loose ball was thundered into the net to make it a high five for Lugar.

Lugar then looked to run the clock down but with 6 minutes of normal time left, Burghead sprung a surprise. A long throw was headed clear by Muir but only as far as Derek Ramsey, his quick return ball caught out the Lugar defence and Lunan ran through to blast home.

Lugar were still in wind down mode and were happy to run the clock down but somehow the ref found an extra 5 minutes and in the fourth minute of time added on Lunan struck again. Another long throw into the box saw the Burghead player out-jump the defenders and head into the bottom corner to finish the scoring at Burghead 2 Lugar 5.

Burghead Thistle – Robinson, Ramsey, Lunan, Cumming, Smith, Stewart, McLaren, Duncan, Petrie, Grant, Paterson,

Subs – Leggat, Rogers, McGregor, Vale

Lugar Boswell Thistle – Kelly, Todd, Biggart, Mullen, Muir, Watt, A Paterson, McCreadie, R Paterson, Shankland, Orr.

Subs – Wilson, McGeady, Ferguson, Mathieson, Cuthbertson.