Scottish Junior Cup Fifth Round

BONNYRIGG ROSE ATHLETIC 1

BEITH JUNIORS 2

FORMER winners Beith had to dig deep to ensure their name went into the hat for the quarter-finals.

They had to battle back to defeat their previously unbeaten and highly-fancied East hosts.

New Dundas Park passed a morning inspection but the surface was very heavy and with the slope and wind advantage the big Bonnyrigg side took the route one option throughout the first half.

From the outset the hosts game plan was to seek out powerful striker Kieran McGachie and then get forward to support but Beith’s experienced centre backs did well to handle the threat. The first real chance in the contest fell to Beith with Nicky Docherty getting on the end of a Joe Bradley delivery only to see his glanced header come off the upright. Minutes later the goal frame came to the visitors' rescue when McIntosh pounced on a Paul Frize mistake but the crossbar kept out his shot.

Rose had a slight advantage in possession but neither keeper had been greatly troubled. Rose centre back Moyes headed wide from a corner while at the other end Rose keeper Young made a hash of punching away a free-kick but his defence scrambled the danger away.

The glue pot pitch made passing extremely difficult and the scrappy affair continued to be mainly highly contested in the middle of the park. However the hosts got the breakthrough 10 minutes from the break when a pass found McGachie out on the left in a clear offside position but no flag came and he charged forward into the box and went down under a challenge from John Sheridan and the referee pointed to the spot. Dean Hoskins made no mistake, giving Stephen Grindlay little chance. The scorer had another shot at goal just before the interval but his decent effort from outside the box swung wide.

Johnny Millar made an attacking-minded change for the restart with Ross McPherson on for Tommy Martin and the substitute had a fair overhead kick effort saved by the keeper in 50 minutes.

The visitors looked the likelier to score but almost fell 2-0 behind when McGachie missed the target from a good position following a John Sheridan mistake.

Beith made another change to try to find an equaliser by replacing Joe Bradley with legendary veteran striker Kenny McLean for his first appearance since cruciate surgery almost a year ago.

The hosts were sitting deep and seemed content to sit and protect their lead but Beith were finding clear chances hard to come by. Paul Frize had a decent effort from outside the box but his shot swung a yard wide as the matched entered its closing stages.

However the excitement the game lacked duly arrived, Grindlay keeping Beith in the game with a save at McGachie’s feet.

The hosts were reduced to 10 men in 83 minutes when full-back Dean Brett was shown a red card for an off-the-ball challenge on Nicky Docherty. Two minutes later Beith were level when the referee awarded another penalty after Rose keeper Bryan Young came for a ball into the box and bundled McLean over in the process. Connor McGlinchey held his nerve and confidently found the net. The hosts were seriously unravelling and Hoskins collected a second yellow for badgering the referee, reducing his side to nine men. Beith were pushing for a winner but a replay looked on the cards until they won a corner in injury-time with just enough time for Richie Burke’s delivery to pick out Mark McLaughlin for the big defender to find the net with a powerful header.

Only seconds remained and as the players left the pitch ugly scenes ensued with apparently at least another two Rose players seeing red cards.

BONNYRIGG: B Young; Brett, Hoskins, K Young, Moyes, Horne, Gray, Janczyk,McGachie, McIntosh, Currie. Subs: Martyniuk, Turner, Nelson, Wilson, Andrew/

BEITH: Grindlay, R Docherty, N Docherty, Mclaughlin, Sheridan, Martin, Christie, Frize, Milliken, McGlinchey, Bradley. Subs: McPherson, McLean, Wilson, Burke, MacDonald