Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Drumps success in killing a giant
Langloan side defeats high-flying Grange to win Scottish Cup scalp
Drumpellier claimed a huge Scottish Cup scalp as they stunned high-flying Grange to secure a semifinal place.
The Eastern Premier leaders Grange went in to the match as favourites to win the competition but came up short against a Drumpellier side languishing near the bottom of the Western First Division.
The fixture was delayed by a week after vandals damaged the Langloan pitch, but that seemed to spur on the home side as they claimed a historic 10-run victory.
They now travel to Edinburgh to face Carlton in the semi-final this Sunday.
D rumpel li er skipper Gordon Shaw said: “This is an unbelievable result, to beat a team of the calibre of Grange with a lot of ex-Scotland Internationals and guys currently on the fringes of the squad is a great achievement.
“Considering the problems we had last week with the vandalism and now to turn it round this week with a result like that is a good feeling.
“All the guys gave everything and we got our reward. We have been the underdogs in all three matches so far, and we won’t be worried about having that tag again on Sunday.”
The visitors won the toss and elected to bowl first on what looked a bowler friendly track.
They managed to pick up the early wicket of Drumps skipper Shaw with only 10 on the board, however a solid partnership between South African opener Hayden Sweet and Chris Keltie saw the score to 55, before Keltie was trapped LBW to Grange captain Andrew Brock for 16.
This triggered a minor collapse as Brock picked up three wickets in four balls with Zander Erasmus and Will Leslie both departing without adding to the score.
However, a composed half century by Sweet, supported by Damien Connelly with 28, saw the home side through to a competitive 143 all out.
Following an hour and half rain delay a revised target of 134 was set for Grange in 43 overs, and they made a steady start to the chase with 25 on the board before youngster Zeeshan Aziz picked up the wicket of Aslam for 13, then in the next over Darren Pryde trapped Scott Blain LBW for seven.
Nic Farrar and Brian Hodges calmed the home sides nerves with a useful partnership, but the introduction of Leslie and Mo Khan tightened the grip with some economical bowling.
Khan eventually picked up the wicket of Farrar for 22 before Leslie had Hodges caught not long after, Khan picked up the wicket of Harris Carnegie a couple of overs later, but couldn’t finish his spell as he was struck by the ball on the webbing of the hand and had to go off to hospital for stitches.
The visitors continued to lose wickets at regular intervals and looked in real trouble with the score on 96 for eight after 30 overs with Leslie finishing his spell with impressive figures of 4-23 off nine overs.
Powerful hitting from Gordon Goudie swung the game back in favour of Grange, but when he fell for 23 to Aziz they still needed 15 to win.
Aziz then picked up the final wicket of Saj Ali LBW for two to start off the celebrations, the youngster finished with excellent figures of 3-37 off his nine overs.