Wishaw crash out of Scottish Junior Cup

Oct 8 2008 by Andrew Weston, Wishaw Press

Longside .........................................3 Wishaw Juniors .............................2

WISHAW Juniors were knocked out of the Scottish Junior Cup at the first hurdle going down to Aberdeenshire outfit Longside in controversial circumstances.

The visitors were in the lead twice but suspect refereeing decisions cost Wishaw the game and the chance to go through to the next round.

As you would expect, the home side started the brightest, but it was Wishaw who took the lead in 10 minutes when Longside’s central defender Brown fouled Coulter out on the right edge of the box and Bell’s low cross into the six yard box, was turned into his own net by Longside’s Craik.

At this point Wishaw were very much on the front foot and Coffey could have doubled their advantage nine minutes later but he headed just wide.

Burns then fired wide for Wishaw from 20 yards.

Longside had a great chance to level but Anderson missed his effort from eight yards out.

They continued to put the pressure on the Wishaw defence and 28 minutes into the half they were awarded a disputed penalty after Ralston was adjudged to have brought down Reid inside the box despite no appeals from the home fans or players.

Goalkeeper Young saved diving to his left but Anderson was first to the ball to fire home the rebound.

The second half saw Wishaw up the pace and in 58 minutes they took the lead for the second time in the game when Wishaw man of the match Noble got to the by-line and his cut back was headed home across goal and into the net by Burns from about 10 yards out.

At this point Wishaw were the better team and they had further chances to increase their lead but found the Longside keeper in great form.

Longside levelled again after another strange decision by the referee as Wishaw keeper Young came for a cross and was knocked out by Reid’s flying elbow.

Despite furious protests and with the youngster motionless on the ground the referee allowed play to continue and the ball broke to Cardno who tapped home from four yards.

The match was then halted for fully five minutes before Young was able to recover sufficiently to continue.

Soon after McAloon was booked for his protests.

Longside's winner came after they were awarded a free-kick out on the right after McAloon was adjudged to have fouled Anderson. Even the Longside officials said that he got the ball cleanly but to everyone’s amazement McAloon was given his second yellow card and he was on his way to the dressing room.

From the resulting free-kick Brown outjumped the depleted Wishaw defence to head home close to the back post.

Wishaw continued to press for the equaliser with further shots from Coffey, Burns and Richardson in a frantic last five minutes but to no avail and the match finished 3-2 to the home side.

Wishaw - Young, McLaughlan, McAloon, Ralston, Richardson, Lynch, Coffey, Burns, Coulter, Bell, Noble. Subs: Murdoch, Stewart, Nisbet, McCann, McIlduff, Brunton