Saints take on Wishaw for place in last eight of the Scottish Cup
The draw for the sixth round of the Scottish Amateur Cup has paired the D&K Lafferty sponsored side with fellow Central Scottish Amateur Football League opposition in the shape of Premier Division Wishaw High School Former Pupils.
The 2011 winners of the most prestigious trophy in Scottish amateur football kicked off this season’s campaign with a comfortable 3 - 0 away win at Windlaw of the Strathclyde Saturday Morning Amateur Football League.
Amongst the goalscorers was Lee Hadden beginning a remarkable run of scoring in every round of the competition bringing him to the attention of Central Scottish Amateur Football League Select manager Colin Hamilton and National Select manager Colin MacLeod.
Wishaw were on the road again for their second round tie which took them to Falkirk to face Lothian and Edinburgh Amateur Football Association Lothian West Division strugglers Mill where an emphatic 6-0 win eased them through to the third round.
A third consecutive away draw gave Wishaw a shorter journey to Glasgow Green and a third round tie against Hampden of the Glasgow Colleges Football Association Premier Division. Despite succeeding where all others in the competition have failed in breaching the miserly Wishaw defence, the Saturday morning team were no match for their afternoon opponents and were brushed aside by six goals to one.
The fourth round draw set up an all Central Scottish Amateur Football League Premier Division tie between Wishaw and three time cup winners St Patrick’s FP. Having already inflicted a heavy away league defeat on their opponents, the much fancied Dumbarton men went into the tie as favourites, however, Wishaw had other ideas and produced their best performance of the season to progress by two goals to nil.
Due to delays in previous rounds for their opponents Glasgow Colleges Football Association Premier Division title hopefuls Singer, Wishaw were forced to wait until last week to play their fifth round tie.
After competing well for the first 45 minutes on the newlylaid 4G surface at Clydebank High School, the hosts were stunned by two Wishaw goals in five minutes at the start of the second half. There was to be no way back for the home side and Wishaw added a third goal to put the tie beyond any doubt and set up this Saturday’s sixth round clash with Saints.
Saints club secretary David Buchanan travelled to Clydebank to run the rule over Wishaw and was impressed.
He said: ‘Wishaw are a well organised, hard-working side with some good players but I’m confident if we play the way we can, and all our boys are on form, we will progress to the last eight of the competition.’
Wishaw have experienced mixed fortunes in the other cup competitions, going out of the West of Scotland Cup at the third round at the hands of Ayrshire Amateur Football Association Premier League high flyers Glenburn
Miner’s Welfare and exiting the Central Scottish Amateur Football League Bunrigh Trophy following a quarter final defeat against Division 1A promotion chasers Castlemilk Dynamo.
Saints progressd to this stage of the competition with a bye in the first round.
Round two saw the Oban side paired with Perthshire outfit Vale of Earn and it took two games and penalty kicks for Saints to march in to round three. The first game in Oban finished 4-4 with the replay in Crieff ending in a 3-3 draw, with Saints winning the penalty shoot-out 4-3.
There was no such drama in the third round tie at a damp Garscube Sports Complex where Saints recorded a comfortable 4-1 win over Westerlands.
Saints made the gruelling 410 mile round trip to the chilly north east for round four and a re-match with last season’s conquerors Rothie Rovers. The Oban side progressed to the fifth round with a hard-fought 3-0 win.
In the fifth round Saints were paired with Glasgow Saturday Morning side Renfrew Town with Saints running out 5-1 winners at the 3G pitch thanks to goals from Lewis Cameron (2), Craig MacEwan, Willie Gemmell and Dene Cassells.
Unlike almost every other cup competition in amateur football, the Scottish Amateur Cup still includes replays therefore a re-match will follow at Glencruitten in a week if the two sides cannot be separated after 90 minutes. In charge of proceedings is Donald McCallum of the Scottish Amateur Football League.
The match will be held at Wishaw Sports Centre 3G with a 2pm kick-off.
Saints will be without Myles McAuley, Kerr Newbigging and Matt Rippon who are injured and Donald Campbell, who is working down south, but Cammy Hill is available for selection for the club’s most important game of the season so far.