SIGH AND MIGHTY
Talbot treble dream crashes in Ayrshire derby as quickfire double stops title bid
Two goals in two minutes won Talbot the Scottish Cup. Two goals in two minutes lost them the league.
Six days on from one of the most memorable cup comebacks ever the Super Premier trophy was less than a half-hour away from joining it in the Beechwood trophy cabinet.
But Del Esplin and James Hilton had other ideas, cancelling out goals from Gordon Pope and Dwayne Hyslop as Cumnock denied their arch rivals a title party at Townhead.
Auchinleck’s misery was complete three minutes from time when former Nock striker Graham Wilson was shown a straight red for kicking out at Stephen McKenna.
Boss Tommy Sloan towered above a Talbot god last weekend as a sixth Scottish Cup winners’ medal saw him leapfrog the legendary Willie Knox.
But asked if he now knew how Hurlford gaffer Darren Henderson felt last Sunday, Tucker said: “Exactly – but that’s football for you. I can’t complain much about how we played.
“Even going down to 10 men we took it to them, we got through them and couldn’t quite get the last bit – in the net. A couple of individual errors have cost us. There was a lot of effort but a couple of mistakes and Cumnock were there to do their damndest to stop us winning the league – and rightly so.
“They tried to see the game out and we’re fine with that. The goals were preventable. I didn’t think they had to do a lot to get back in it, which was disappointing.
“We should have been more dogged, we weren’t and we got punished for it.
“My team played some decent stuff. When we got it wide we looked threatening, Mark Shankland and Stephen Wilson on the other side caused problems, just the wee last bit at times didn’t quite happen for us.
“There’s definitely no complaints. We’ve not quite been good enough this year. All the best to Beith.”
Shankland’s deadly deliveries teed up last Sunday’s Rugby Park revival and he was at it again in 27 minutes, dinking a free- kick over the Nock defence for Pope to head home. He was the architect again in 59 minutes, sending in a peach of a cross for Hyslop to head home. A treble loomed after Talbot’s Ardagh Cup success last October but Nock were determined not to let it happen on their patch as Paul Burns broke down the right then cut back for Esplin to net in 63 minutes. And the home fans were the ones singing two minutes later when Hilton pounced on Stevie Crawford’s ball down the left channel and Andy Leishman’s hesitation in the Bot goal to send it trickling home.
Keiran Wood’s block stopped sub Jamie Glasgow rattling home while Shankland sent a dipping free-kick just over as Talbot’s hopes faded.
Esplin said: “It feels like a win. A few of their players were saying, ‘ What you celebrating?’ But I’m sure they would have been the exact same if it was the other way about. I’m calling it a win.”
Nock boss Peter Leonard had called the 5-1 derby drubbing Talbot dished out at Townhead in January on route to Cup glory his worst day in the job.
He said: “We all know what it means but to see what it means to the fans, it’s a whole different level. It’s nice to send them home happy after that disaster.”