JUBILANT Saltcoats Victoria boss Gary Russell saluted his patchwork team after they helped the Campbell Park club pull off an amazing cup win in the ultimate David v Goliath contest.

The Seasiders defeated former West of Scotland Cup winners Arthurlie on penalties at Dunterlie Park in the opening round of this season's competition on Saturday following a 4-4 draw.

Amazingly the massive underdogs had been 4-2 up late on before Premier Division 'Lie, who are two leagues above their opponents, scored two last gasp goals to take the contest into a nerve-jangling shootout.

It was one of the biggest wins in the club's recent history and interim player-manager Russell admitted his tactics helped pave the way for a glorious victory. Their reward is a home tie against another Premier Division team Pollok.

Russell went into the game with just 11 fit players as five were unavailable and he had to sign David Cripps, brother of existing player Andrew and Graeme Grant, brother-in-law of goalkeeper Chris Wright to make up the numbers.

The interim player/boss said: "I won the league with Irvine Vics and got to the quarter-finals of the Scottish Junior Cup with Kilwinning Rangers when they were in the District League, but this has to be up there with my best wins. Tactically we went out to frustrate Arthurlie in midfield and that worked for a lot of the game.

"To be fair they came back into it and showed their high levels of fitness by scoring two late goals. But we played really well and created chances as well as scoring. We were disappointed we didn't hold on to win in 90 minutes and penalties can be a lottery but we took our kicks well and Chris made a good save."

Looking ahead Russell added: "We will get a big pay day with a home tie against Pollok, who should bring a decent support and we will give it our best shot."

The result is bound to boost Russell's hopes of landing the job full-time.

But he cautioned: "I will sit down and talk to the committee at the end of the season and would like the job permanently but it's up to them. We lost at Muirkirk the other week so we need to pick some more good results."

Saturday sees another big name visit Campbell Park in the shape of Cumnock for an Ayrshire Weekly Press Cup first round tie.

Russell added: "Cumnock are a couple of places above Arthurlie in the league so it will be a test but we look forward to it, hopefully we will get a decent crowd."