The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
McGinlay’s dismay as Huntly let it slip
Huntly Preston Athletic 3 4
Preston Athletic produced a remarkable comeback to reach the Scottish Cup second round as Huntly let a two-goal lead slip.
Huntly manager Dave McGinlaywasannoyedhis sideconceded four goals in the second half. He said: “We had a reasonable first half and thought two goals would settle us. We warned our players not to let Preston back into the game but three individual mistakes put us 4-2 down.
“I don’t think we did enough to win the game and hopefully we will see a reaction next week against Deveronvale as we know weare a far better team than what we showed.”
In the first minute, Hrvoje Kovacevic played a ball between the visitors’ defence and Andrzej Kleczkowski pounced to slot home from close range.
A minute from the break Craig Dorrat played a ball forward, Preston’s back-line again failed to deal with it and Alexander Thoirs lashed the ball high into the net.
Five minutes into the second half Michael Osborne curled the ball in from just outside the box to begin the Preston recovery and two more goals in quick succession put the visitors ahead.
The firstwas from GaryMcCormack and a minute later he
“I don’t think we did enough to win the game”
appeared to go in with studs up against Shaun Barney, as the Huntly goalkeeper tried to get out of the way of the challenge. McCormack sidestepped him and tapped the ball home.
Assistant-referee Iain Moeller had seen an infringement by the forward but he was overruled by referee Andy Milne and the goal stood.
With 12 minutes to go the Huntly defence failed to clear and Sean Martin reacted first to net Preston’s fourth.
In the 88th minute Neale Davidson swung in a free kick and Czech forward Marek Madle got up to head home and reduce the leeway and set up a grandstand finish.
A minute into stoppage-time Preston captainMark Cherrie appeared to handle the ball inside the area, assistant Robbie Hope alerted the referee to the incident but Milne waved away the home side’s claims for a penalty.
Athletic manager, former Caley Thistle player David Bingham, said: “Our players deserve tremendous credit for the way they came back. I felt we were the better sideandI told the players to prove it. It’s amazing how goals change games, you could see the lift it gave our side going ahead.”