Burns exit is a ‘roller coaster’

COLVILLE PARK ..................................... 3 BANNOCKBURN .................................... 2

Burn exited the Scottish Amateur Cup on Saturday largely by gifting goals in a roller coaster of a game.

Two weeks ago, they defeated Colville Park in a tough West of Scotland Cup encounter and when David Donaldson scored in 18 seconds after a neat cross from David Grant, Burn looked set to go through in the national tournament.

But within three minutes Colville levelled after some lacklustre defending and in 15 minutes, a blunder by keeper Greig Maitland gifted the lead to the home side.

He redeemed himself before the break with a double save - stopping the ball on his line. Then two more quality saves each time from players through on his goal, kept Burn in the tie. Ominously, aside from their goal Burn had no attempts in the first half.

The half-time team talk encouraged Bannockburn to play their natural game and on the hour mark, a chance fell to Chris Ogilvie but his shot resulted in a straight forward save. Maitland on the other hand, was kept busy and needed another good save from a Colville attack.

Ryan Weir and Michael Weir came on for Chris Ogilvie and David Donaldson and the Colville No 7 was booked for swinging a punch at Michael Weir before being sent off.

With 10 minutes to go, it looked like Bannockburn had rescued themselves with a David Grant peach swerved around the goalkeepers. Burn kept up the pressure and Michael Weir’s shot needed a quality save.

But with the clock ticking and a replay looking likely, a second Harry Bruce blunder gifted Colville the win.

On Saturday, it’s back to the West of Scotland Cup when Tynecastle are the visitors to Ladywell Park. Thanks to Morton and Sullivan for their sponsorship.