BSC edge it to make last eight
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A goal either side of half-time saw BSC Glasgow through to the quarter-finals of the SFA South Region Cup with a 2-1 over East Stirlingshire.
Jack Smith continued his scoring spree when he hit the opener for last year’s beaten finalists just on half-time and Gary Redpath got a second five minutes after the restart.
Shire piled on the pressure before Andy Rodgers pulled one back 10 minutes from time. And in a desperate closing spell they had several chances including a Jamie McCormick rocket which skimmed the bar.
Civil Service Strollers heaped on the agony for struggling Dalbeattie Sstar as they thumped them 4-1.
New signing Scott Gormley fired Strollers into the lead after 10 minutes but Tommy Muir levelled.
Jack Downie hit a penalty to restore Strollers’ lead after David Churchill was brought down in the box and just before the interval Churchill headed in No. 3. Then Downie completed the rout with his second of the afternoon.
Whitehill Welfare cruised into the third round with a 3- 0 win over South side Creetown.
They had a great start when Craig Reid headed in a Jack Wright corner in the third minute and on the half-hour Gary Nicholson fired home No.2.
A shot from Dylan Weldon was then stopped by keeper Harry Fidler but Weldon netted the rebound.
A first-half double from Dan Thom and a strike from Grant Middlemiss saw Threave Rovers go through with a 3- 0 win over Mid Annandale.
Edusport Academy pulled off the shock of the day with a 2-1 win over Spartans to reach the quarter-finals. They had to f ight back after Scott Maxwell was pulled down but got up to score with the free-kick.
Goals from Louis Babel on 70 minutes and a stoppage-time 25-yard winner from Connor Higgins saw them through.
And if it wasn’t housework, he’d be gardening or fixing the back fence before putting his feet up.
At 61, back home in York, Ricky Sbragia had accepted the notion of retirement.
He’d earned it. After 45 years in the game as player, coach and manager, the boy from a Glasgow housing estate deserved a rest.
After leaving his post at the SFA as Scotland Under-21 gaffer, a few people might have thought he was a spent force anyway. Thankfully for Sbragia, not the folk that mattered at the world’s biggest club. When the
call came from Manchester United, his wife Joan wasn’t too happy.
But the prospect of a return to Old Trafford as Under-23s coach was simply too good to turn down.
And no amount of chores was going to keep Sbragia away.
Now, he regularly dines with Jose Mourinho at the Carrington training complex, discussing players, tactics and formations.
He can spend an afternoon watching the likes of Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku and David de Gea being put through their paces.
On the training pitch is where Sbragia feels most comfortable.
Not in a scout’s coat , a recruitment meeting or in front of the TV cameras.
The Scot is a coach and, irrespective of what some may think, a damn good one. If he wasn’t, United legend Nicky Butt wouldn’t have enticed Sbragia back to his former club. He wa s at Old Trafford between 2002 and 2005 before stints at Bolton, Sunderland and the SFA. At times in Scotland, he wa s branded old- fashioned. And that hur t . Because deep down he knew he could still operate at a top club. That’s why he looked so cont ent when MailSport met him at Inverclyde, the new £12million national facility where Sbragia had Manchester United’s U23 side last week.
In his new silver training gear, he’s sorting out a Reds shirt for a member of staff’s son.
Which is typical of the guy brought up in Castlemilk.
And reflecting on his new lease of life, he said: “It feels good to be back at Manchester United. I feel fortunate.
“I never dreamed I would get the chance again. And they asked me, which was great.
“Before I spoke to the club I was offered a job by the Indian FA to work in Mumbai.
“It was something different, U21s down to U9s, and it interested me. My wife could have gone to Australia to see our daughter who lives there.
“I was offered terms but fortunately for me United came in so I had to say no.
“It was weird going back for my interview with United because Nicky was a player in my first spell there. He was in the first team and an England international.
“So it was a bit strange but he was open. It was all about the direction the club is going and he loves Man United. We all do.
“He sold it to me. They wanted me and that was a nice feeling.
“I said to Joan it was the only club job I’d have gone to. Now it would be great to finish up at Man United.
“People probably saw me at 61 and thought I was past it. But I’ve never been past it.
“There are always new things in my mind. I was never finished.
“And I get hurt when I hear the