SCOTTISH CUP
The 1968 Scottish Cup winners DUNFERMLINE had the tie done and dusted by half-time as the League 1 leaders easily beat League 2 bottom club FORFAR.
The Pars went close on several occasions before Craig Wighton’s low rightfoot finish broke the deadlock in the 27th minute. Kane Ritchie-Hosler soon doubled their lead, before Josh Edwards put the result beyond doubt with a left-foot shot from a tricky angle just three minutes before the break. Wighton added his second and Dunfermline’s fourth with another rightfoot effort in the 71st minute.
DARVEL looked the more purposeful side and always looked like taking their place in the next round when beating their League 1 opponents and hosts MONTROSE 5-2. The visitors opened the scoring on nine minutes when Cameron Eadie headed an Ian McShane free-kick past Aaron Lennox. But, soon after, Terry Masson smashed the ball home from 40 yards to put Montrose level. On 29 minutes, McShane accepted a square pass to score, and Ross Caldwell made it 3-1 four minutes later when he outpaced the Montrose defence. McShane then added another on 57 minutes. With 10 minutes to go, Craig Brown hit a deflected goal for Montrose, but Andrew Stirling sealed Darvel’s win when he
chipped the ball past Lennox for No. 5.
HILL OF BEATH HAWTHORN went down 2-1 at home to ELGIN CITY, who played most of the second half with 10 men. The Haws took the lead through a scrambled effort from Ryan Connelly on eight minutes. The League 2 side levelled on 19 minutes when Russell Dingwall found space in the box and shot past Hall in the home goal. Elgin then took the lead on the half-hour when Kane Kester skimmed a shot into the back of the net. The north side had Angus Mailer sent off after 51 minutes, but, from the resultant penalty, Haws’ Ross Allum hit the bar.
Tier-seven side DRUMCHAPEL UNITED produced one of the shocks of the third round after they stunned League 1 opponents EDINBURGH CITY 1-0 thanks to Alex Docherty’s secondhalf strike. The only goal of the game arrived two minutes into the second half when Callum MacKenzie’s shot was deflected into the path of Docherty, who forced the ball beyond Robbie Mutch in the Edinburgh goal.
LINLITHGOW ROSE beat SAUCHIE 1-0 in an eagerlyawaited clash between two of the top East of Scotland Premier League sides, which turned out to be a scrappy affair. Linlithgow netted a penalty after 16 minutes when Sean Heaver was fouled in the box and the spot-kick was converted by Mark Stowe. Sauchie’s chances of levelling disappeared with 10 minutes to go when Ross Kavanagh was red-carded for an off-theball incident.
Euan McGill put STIRLING UNIVERSITY into the fourth round after an upset 1-0 win at Cliftonhill against ALBION ROVERS. McGill struck with a left-foot shot in injury-time for a deserved victory after Albion’s Charlie Reilly had missed a penalty at the end of normal time.