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WATCH: Scottish Cup highlights as Huntly miss out on Aberdeen dream tie by Dumbarton defeat, but manager Allan Hale praises club's efforts


By Craig Christie

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HUNTLY boss Allan Hale says his team were beaten 4-0 but not disgraced in their Scottish Cup tie at Dumbarton see YouTube Highlights below.

The Christie Park side’s lack of preparation for a big cup clash and arduous trip south, eventually took its toll against their League One opponents on Tuesday.

Huntly keeper Euan Storrier could do little to prevent a more clinical Dumbarton side from progressing in the Scottish Cup. Picture: Daniel Forsyth..
Huntly keeper Euan Storrier could do little to prevent a more clinical Dumbarton side from progressing in the Scottish Cup. Picture: Daniel Forsyth..

Hale was pleased to see his side compete for long spells, but admitted they didn’t do enough to threaten their hosts and raise the possibility of a cup upset.

More Scottish Cup highlights:

“We have represented the club, the town and the Highland League well throughout the competition, and I certainly don’t feel we disgraced ourselves at all,” said Hale.

“But I think the overriding feeling is one of frustration. As well-organised as we were, defensively over the course of the 90 minutes, in possession of the ball we haven’t carried that big enough a threat on the night to create the goalscoring opportunities you are going to need to cause a shock and get into the next round.

“I’m pleased with many aspects of the performance in terms of how well we restricted Dumbarton, but frustrated that we didn’t have enough belief on the night or enough composure to carry a bigger threat overall.”

A home tie against Aberdeen was the big carrot at the end of the stick for both clubs on the night.

Hale said his team rode an early storm of Dumbarton pressure, and were growing into the contest and looked the better team for a spell at 0-0. However, a double whammy before half-time put them on the back foot.

Former Clach and Rothes striker Jaime Wilson tapped in the opener on 31 minutes, and slack marking from a setpiece allowed centre-back Ryan McGeever to head in a second 10 minutes later.

“The longer the first half went on, you could tell that the players were growing in confidence. Then they got a goal out of nothing, a break down the right-hand side and the boy Wilson is there to tap it in.

“We then gave away a poor goal at a moment when we were just starting to take control of the game.”

When Wilson ran through to fire a nice finish over Euan Storrier on 69 minutes it was all over, and a neat Ross Forbes finish soon made it 4-0.

Gary McGowan forced a save out of the home keeper late on, but Huntly couldn’t manage to get on the scoresheet.

“In the later stages of the game, with our inactivity and fitness levels, they started to pick us off a wee bit, and with the scoreline being the way it was, the tiredness coming from the players left gaps and we were exposed a wee bit.

“It’s just frustrating that we didn’t quite manage to give a better account of ourselves than what I feel we are capable of.”

Huntly must now wait for a verdict on the conclusion of the Highland League season, and until then they must stop training activities due to the Covid restrictions when they are no longer carrying out PCR testing on their squad, now that they are out of the Scottish Cup.

Dumbarton, meantime, will host Premiership Aberdeen in the third round of the cup on April 3.


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