Long road could yet reap Scottish Cup rewards for Beith and Auchinleck Talbot

IT’S not getting any easier for Auchinleck Talbot and Beith as they continue to carry the hopes of Junior football on their shoulders in this season’s William Hill Scottish Cup.

Talbot’s long journey up to face Wick Academy on Saturday culminated in Jamie Glasgow and Stevie Wilson goals clinching a hard-fought 2-1 victory, however it’s debatable whether many cheers would have erupted from the travelling party upon hearing their “reward” would be yet another trek north to take on reigning Highland League champions Cove Rangers in one of the plum Second Round ties.

Beith for whom Darren Christie, twice, and Connor McGlinchey were on target in a 3-1 triumph up at Nairn County landed equally daunting opposition but without the miles after pairing with one-time Junior giants Linlithgow Rose, nowadays operating as an East of Scotland League club.

Mighty boss Johnny Millar admitted: “The travelling and game preparations issues associated with going up to Nairn at the weekend had us all desperately wanting a home tie in the draw and thankfully our luck was in.

“I’d have called it a very difficult tie had we drawn Linlithgow in the Junior Cup, so this is no different and we’ll need to be at our best to have any chance of getting through.

“Mark Bradley has kept the nucleus of last season’s team but I haven’t the foggiest about standards in the new set up through there, so we’ll need to do our homework on them over the next few weeks.”

Millar’s delight at his side’s Cup exploits is tempered somewhat by growing fears over the possible effect on the Ayrshiremen’s hopes of retaining their league title crown, which are looking slimmer than ever after early season frontrunners Hurlford United ran out 1-0 weekend winners against Rob Roy to move a staggering 14 points clear of the reigning champions.

He insisted: “Hurlford’s consistency has to be admired and they are almost out of sight already, even though both ourselves and Auchinleck have three games in hand over them because of our Scottish Cup commitments.

“Right now it looks a monster task to reel them back in, but the crunch is coming because we are due to play them at Bellsdale in the next round of league fixtures.”