Cup favourites catch Doune Castle cold
SANDYS ....................................................... 3 DOUNE CASTLE ......................................... 1
A frustrated Doune exited the East of Scotland Cup after a pulsating cup tie against the pretournament favourites.
Castle recovered from a woeful start when they lost two early goals, to enjoy the better of much of the contest.
Then, just when they had reduced the leeway, a clinical Sandys hit them with a classic sucker punch to seal the win.
Against the run of play, Sandy’s took a controversial 1-0 lead after seven minutes.
The referee dubiously penalised Doune for a hand-ball some 22 yards out in a central position. The home team’s initial effort broke to another Sandy’s player and he made it 1-0, rifling a low drive into the far corner.
Sandys made it 2-0 on 14 minutes. The Doune defence failed to clear a corner from the right and when the ball was played back to the far post, Sandy’s centre-back took full advantage to nod into the net from eight yards.
Doune recovered and for the reminder of the half pressed forward and Alan Inglis, Christopher Macdonald and Niall McClure all had efforts saved.
They came out all guns blazing for the second half and within 25 seconds they had pulled a goal back to get back into the tie.
Macdonald slipped the ball to Lukasz Duszynski and he turned quickly to deceive the keeper from 14 yards with a strike that flew into the net at the near post.
Given their dominance at the end of the first period, Doune looked to take control of the tie, only to suffer an almost immediate counter from Sandys.
On 48 minutes, what looked like a hopeful punt upfield fell between two Castle defenders. A Sandys forward latched on to the loose ball to lob the advancing Callum Davison for 3-1.
Macdonald drilled a low drive that slipped inches wide of the far post and seconds later, he had another effort that seemed net-bound, until it glanced off a defender’s head to deflect over.
Other chances came and went. Doune were denied a clear penalty when Duszynski was body-checked inside the area and with eight minutes remaining, they squandered another good chance. Inglis knocked the ball down to Macdonald and although he struck it cleanly, his rightfoot drive rebounded off the keeper’s legs to safety.
Doune fought till the end, but an experienced Sandys managed the remainder of the time effectively to secure their progress into the next round.
Doune Castle: Davison, Macfarlane, Docherty, Coubrough, D Innes, Gibson (Kerr), Wilbert, McClure, Duszynski, Inglis, Macdonald. Sub (not used): Tully