Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Gartcairn make a bit of history
Gartcairn ..........3 Whitburn...........0
Gerry Bonham’s Gartcairn side created a little bit of history as they progressed through to the fourth round of the Scottish Junior Cup.
Goals from Kevin Ross, Lee Pettigrew and Scott Murphy sealed their place in the competition as they knocked out East of Scotland rivals Whitburn.
It was almost the perfect start for the home side at MTC Park, as Cairn had the ball in the back of the net in the first 20 seconds.
However, the strike was ruled out after the ball was adjudged to have gone out of play before going past the keeper.
Poor finishing stopped Gartcairn from making the most of their early dominance, and they were almost made to rue their missed opportunities.
The visitors went close to stealing the lead late in the first half with a few chances that on another day may well have beaten the excellent Bryn Halliwell.
An Adam Porteous ball found Callum Robertson, leaving him one-on-one with Halliwell. The Gartcairn keeper stayed on his feet and blocked what looked like a certain opener.
Cairn survived an early onslaught to take a surprise lead when Ross headed in from a corner.
The ball was swung in towards the near post and Ross ran into a gaping hole in the Whitburn defence to head home from the six-yard line.
Whitburn almost struck back immediately, after a blistering James Martin volley flew over the Gartcairn crossbar.
But from that moment on, the Central District Second Division side never looked back, and they soon doubled their lead.
The bounce of a long ball took the Whitburn defence by surprise, giving Pettigrew the chance to run through on goal, and he calmly slipped the ball past the keeper from 10 yards out.
Things got even better for Cairn as James Martin earned a second yellow when he cynically tripped John Henderson as he went forward.
Then with two minutes of the game left Scott Murphy sealed the win with a curling free kick from just outside the box.
Gartcairn boss Bonham felt his side were well worth their win as they look forward to the draw later this week.
“At half-time we were level, which I would say was about fair at that stage because we both had chances.
“In the second half I though we were the better team and scored some great goals.”