Sauchie this afternoon secured a place in the fourth round of the Scottish Junior Cup with a stunning victory over Camelon.
Goals from Brian Morgan, Craig Comrie and Darren Cummings sealed our victory, with Alan Docherty netting for Camelon.
The win means we will now travel to face Bellshill Athletic at Rockburn Park on January 20.
Manager Fraser Duncan started with Darren Dolan in goal and a back four of Mark Sharp, Graeme King, Terry Hewitt and Iain Syme.
Comrie patrolled the midfield and Morgan played just ahead of him, with David Morrison and Ant McTaggart either side. Conor Kelly played up front and new signing David Grant played from the start.
Former Sauchie player Ryan Kane lined up for the visitors.
We started well and drew first blood when Morgan opened the scoring. Morrison picked up possession on the left and rolled it inside to the captain, who took a touch and crashed an unstoppable shot off the underside of the bar and in.
That was no more than we deserved but Camelon were right back in it a few minutes later. Slack marking allowed Docherty space in the box, and when Craig Donaldson’s cross found the towering striker, there was nothing Dolan could do to stop the header.
Chances began to come at both ends. Lewis Small found a way through our defence but couldn’t prod a loose ball past Dolan, while a Morgan free kick fizzed over the crossbar.
The visitors enjoyed their best spell just before the break, their best chance coming when Small forced Dolan into a smart save low to his right.
Half-time seemed to reinvigorate the Sauchie players and five minutes after the break we were back in front. A corner was headed away as far as Comrie on the edge of the box, and he smashed it back with interest beyond a helpless Dean Shaw and into the top corner.
There was a blow for us soon after when Sharp took a nasty whack to the face as he challenged for a high ball. That meant his day was done, Stewart Houston coming on in his place.
We should have had a penalty when McTaggart’s ball in from the right hit a hand, but the referee was blindsided by the player’s body and couldn’t give the decision.
Camelon brought on Alan Sneddon who injected a bit more impetus into their play and he forced Dolan into two decent saves in quick succession.
At the other end, Kelly had the ball in the net but he was denied by a flag from the linesman.
It had been a close-fought, sometimes scrappy encounter and when McTaggart went flying into a tackle things threatened to get spicy, but although Ant was surrounded by several Camelon players and Shaw ran 70 yards to get involved, the referee intervened to calm the situation.
As the game neared the closing stages Fraser brought on Cummings to make sure of the result and he had an instant impact. Daz picked the ball up, turned and drove into the box before curling a shot beyond Shaw and into the far corner to spark scenes of jubilation among the supporters.
Camelon began to let their frustration get the better of them and their captain John Millar was given his marching orders after he scythed down Morgan, picking up a second yellow card.
After that we saw the game out with relative ease and now go into the winter break having won four of our last five games in all competitions.
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