Tennent's Scottish Cup Second Round

Published on Sunday 10 December 2006 00:55

ANNAN ATHLETIC 0 MORTON 3

SECOND Division leaders Morton made a strong start to their tie against Annan Athletic, securing their place in the next round early on as they outclassed their non-league hosts.

The visitors took the lead after just seven minutes as Chris Templeman's blocked shot earned a corner, which was headed in by Stewart Greacen. Peter Weatherson doubled the lead on the half-hour mark, linking up with Paul McGowan before blasting a left-foot shot low past the diving keeper. Seven minutes later, Jamie Stevenson put the game out of reach as his header beat keeper Dougie Calder.

Apart from an early flourish at the start of the second half when John Hore forced an excellent save from Paul Mathers, Annan never looked like threatening impressive Morton's berth in the next round.

BERWICK 2 ARBROATH 0

IT WAS third time lucky again for Berwick as they beat Third Division promotion rivals Arbroath for the third time this season to progress into the third round of the Scottish Cup with a 2-0 victory.

Ten minutes before the break, Kevin Haynes gave Berwick the lead controlling the ball brilliantly taking it out of the reach of visiting goalkeeper Mark Peat and into the back of the net.

It was all Arbroath in the second half but they couldn't find the back of the net thanks to two excellent saves from Chris Flockhart in the Berwick goal.

It took John Coughlin's men until two minutes from time to secure victory though. The winner coming from Gary Wood who fired home from 10 yards with Peat well away from his line as his side desperately pushed for an equaliser to take it to a replay.

BRECHIN 2 PRESTON ATH 1

PRESTON Athletic couldn't repeat their giant-killing efforts of the first round as their cup run came to an end in a 2-1 defeat against Brechin at Glebe Park. Ian Russell gave the home side the lead on 34 minutes, picking up a through-ball from Kevin Byers and shooting past the keeper on the turn.

The Second Division side should have been three or four goals up by half-time, with Charlie King and Paddy Connolly both guilty of missing gilt-edged chances.

Ten minutes after the restart, John Ward added a second for Brechin heading in a Stuart Callaghan free kick. Brechin endured a nervous end to the match when Graham Newall pulled one back for the visitors, diving in to head home from close range, but Brechin held on to book their place in the next round.

COWDENBEATH 5 EDINBURGH UNI 1

COWDENBEATH ensured that there were no slip-ups as they put five goals past Edinburgh University to progress to the next round.

The students' Michael Hazeldine had the ball in the back of the net after 12 minutes but was judged to have been offside.

Liam Buchanan put Cowdenbeath ahead on 31 minutes, knocking in a Scott Dalziel cross. Ten minutes, later Danny Lennon fired in a Dalziel cross from 12 yards. Deep into injury time at the end of the first half, Buchanan scored his second, knocking in the rebound after Pat Scullion's long-range effort had been parried by the keeper.

James Hair scored at the start of the second half to give the students some hope, but late goals from Laurie Ellis and Mark Baxter sealed the win for the Blue Brazil.

DEVERONVALE 2 FRASERBURGH 1

DEVERONVALE won the battle of the Highland League sides to progress in the third round of the cup with all three goals in the 2-1 victory coming from Deveronvale players.

Fraserburgh went ahead after eight minutes thanks to an own goal from Steve Dolan. A cross from Stephen Main struck Deveronvale's Mark Chisolm, and as he failed to clear the ball, it went in off the unfortunate Dolan.

But the home side didn't take long to get back on terms, with Mark Smith heading in a Dolan cross at the back post to make it 1-1.

As Fraserburgh battled to get their noses back in front, it was Deveronvale who struck, with a second goal for Smith as he again headed the ball home to send the Highland League leaders through to the next round.

EDINBURGH CITY 0 STIRLING ALBION 1

STIRLING made heavy weather of booking their third-round slot after an early strike from Steven Bell.

Colin Cramb's crisp pass was accepted by Steven Bell and he had time to compose himself before slotting the ball past Mike Armitt.

Edinburgh City limited the damage to just one goal through a combination of good fortune and slack Stirling finishing. A head-flick from Ian Cashmore thumped against the post and Armitt had to be alert for much of the first half. He blocked a well-struck free-kick from Chris Aitken only for Marek Tomana roll the loose ball wide from just eight yards.

Danny Noon should have equalised after 49 minutes, but sliced his shot wide after rounding Scott Christie. That was to be as close as City came to taking the game to a replay.

ELGIN CITY 1 BUCKIE THISTLE 0

THIRD Division strugglers Elgin City came through a potentially tough tie against Buckie Thistle thanks to a first-half goal from Adam Moffat.

The goal came on 38 minutes after Jamie Shewan gave away a free kick which swung straight into the goal from the left flank to put Elgin in front.

It was far from plain sailing for Elgin as Buckie, with their huge travelling support backing them, battled to get back into the match.

The Highland League side should have got back on terms but passed up two excellent chances with Stephen Bruce and Shewan both missing sitters.

Elgin showed some of the fight that has been lacking in their league performances to book another Highland derby, this time against Deveronvale, in the third round.

PETERHEAD 0 AYR UTD 2

AYR Utd beat Second Division rivals Peterhead 2-0 thanks to a goal in each half - the first coming from David Dunn and the second from Jerome Vareille.

Peterhead should have netted in the first half, having had the better of the play and possession, but they lacked the final killer touch.

Bobby Linn saw his early shot well saved while Dougie Cameron was guilty of a terrible miss as he shot wide of an open goal on 14 minutes.

Ayr went ahead on 20 minutes with a stunning strike from Dunn, who picked up the ball as Peterhead cleared a corner and blasted the ball in from more than 25 yards out.

The visitors sealed the win on 75 minutes as a Peterhead attack broke down and Vareille surged clear of Mark Perry before firing in to make it 2-0.

RAITH ROVERS 0 DUMBARTON 1

JOHN Gemmell was the hero for Dumbarton as his goal gave the visitors a 1-0 victory over Raith Rovers and earned the Third Division minnows a third-round tie against SPL giants Celtic.

All the action came in the second half and began with Gemmell missing a penalty. Chris Boyle was brought down in the area by Steve Bonnar and Gemmell stepped up to take the penalty which was saved by Chris Fahey. But two minutes later, Gemmell made up for the disappointment as he cracked home an angular shot to put his side ahead.

Gemmell could have made it 2-0 on the hour mark, but this time he struck the bar and Dumbarton looked certain to take victory with 25 minutes remaining as Brian Fairbairn was sent off for retaliation.

STRANRAER 3 FORFAR 1

STRANRAER progressed to the third round with a 3-1 victory in the all-Second Division clash at Stair Park.

Visiting goalkeeper Sandy Wood had made a great save to deny Dougie Ramsay, touching his effort over the bar on 18 minutes, but Michael Moore headed in from the resulting Joe McAlpine corner to make it 1-0.

A defensive error by Forfar in first-half injury time gifted them a second. With the ball loose in the Forfar area, Moore failed to connect, but Kenny Wright raced in to drive the ball home.

On 58 minutes, Paul Lunan pulled one back for the visitors stabbing home the ball from close range despite desperate attempts by the keeper. But David Hamilton restored Stranraer's two-goal lead on 65 minutes, lobbing the keeper from 12 yards out, to set up a tie with Hearts in the next round.