Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Rovers boss content with Brora replay
BRORA RANGERS ............................... 0
ALBION ROVERS ................................. 0
Brian Reid reckons Albion Rovers should have dumped Brora Rangers out of the Scottish Cup on Saturday, but admits he is happy enough to take a replay for his depleted side.
Rovers battled out a goal-less stalemate with the Highland League side at Dudgeon Park, as they travelled without striker Declan Byrne, midfielder Scott Roberts and defenders Eldin Al-zubaidi and Lewis Wilson through injury.
David Wilson was denied late on by the crossbar and then a great save by Rangers keeper Joe Malin to take the tie to a replay at Cliftonhill this Saturday.
And Reid said: “it’s not the easiest place to go, so it’s not a bad result in the end. I thought we should have won it because we had good chances.
“We hit the crossbar, we had a one-on-one with the keeper, who pulled off a great save.
“But the pitch was heavy, it was an early start for the players– they were up about 6am to travel up there – so when we look back at it, it’s not a bad result.
“Obviously, we’d rather have finished it there and then, but we’ve got a chance to bring them back to Coatbridge and make sure we do the job on Saturday.
“It’s half-time in the tie and we need to make sure we are professional, and put in another good performance to get into the next round.
“They are one of the bigger teams in the Highland League and they have ambitions to get promoted to the SPFL.
“I think their budget is probably the same as ours, if not better, so when you put things into perspective with the injuries we’ve got – we’ve got five or six players missing and are down to the bare bones – it’s not the worst result.
“The bookies had them as favourites so that tells you what some people make of them.”
One boost for Rovers was the return of midfielder Charlie Reilly.
He was deemed 50/50 to make the game by Reid last week, but his introduction for Corey O’donnell 14 minutes from time was pleasing.
Reid added: “we are tentatively breaking Charlie back in.
“He’s been out for a while now with an ankle injury and he’s probably not up to full speed yet.
“It was good to get some minutes on the board and we will try and bring him back into the squad gently, but as quickly as we possibly can because we are so depleted. The more players we can get back, the better.”