EDINBURGH CITY 1 SHIRE 2

Sean Simpson probably thinks he can do no wrong at the moment. Less than 48 hours after the birth of his first child, the Shire midfielder brought the club's Scottish Cup campaign back to life with a sparkling cameo from the subs bench.

Without his intervention Shire looked as though they were heading for another afternoon of misery against Edinburgh City, only this time a lot worse. At least back in 1998 City had to use a penalty shoot-out to eject Shire from the cup after two draws.

This time the compact and well-marshalled amateurs seemed capable of turning over a visiting side who were clearly suffering the effects of a six game losing streak.

Coach Gordon Wylde pulled some major surprises ahead of kick-off, especially his decision to drop both Simpson and Craig Donaldson to the subs bench. Gordon Moffat and Derek Ure were their replacements.

Inside the first minute a long clearance from Darren Hill went right through to his opposite number, Duncan Monteith, but the City keeper fumbled and the ball broke to Ure who should have put Shire in front but his effort was blocked by a defender on the line.

City were at least determined to take the game to Shire and on nine minutes Robbie Ross was well-placed but his netbound effort was deflcted wide for a corner.

Shire were winning lots of free-kicks round the City penalty area and that made Kevin McBride a central figure. However, most of his deliveries were poorly-executed, although one lovely corner did see Gordon Moffat head just over the bar.

Moffat, the only Shire player with previous experience of Edinburgh City, almost gave Shire the lead on 26 minutes with a curling shot from wide on the right which flew narrowly wide of goal.

Jordan Caddow was a real livewire for City and he tried his luck from well out but his shot flew over Hill's crossbar after 34 minutes.

A minute later a clever reverse ball from Joe Savage set Stephen Oates clear. He did the right thing, trying to lob the advacing keper from the edge of the box, but poor execution let him down and the ball flew well over.

On the stroke of half-time McBride at last got a free-kick on target but Monteith in the home goal pulled off a fine save.

Shire upped the pace after the interval and, on 52 minutes, Ure might have scored with a chip over the keeper but it went wide. Two minutes later the travelling faithful thought Moffat had broken the deadlock, but his effort went into the side netting.

Confidence was building among the Shire fans, who seemed certain Edinburgh City's resistance would not last much longer but they had the wind taken from their sails on 61 minutes.

Campbell crossed from the right and Robbie Ross stooped to head the ball goalwards. Hill's effort to keep the ball out appeared in vain but, just to be sure, when it did come back into play Dougie Gair lashed it high into the net.

That stunned Shire and, for quite a while, they seemed powerless to respond to the shock of their opponents taking the lead, although Oates might have brought the scores level on 68 minutes with a hook shot that Monteith brilliantly pushed round the post.

But, cometh the hour, cometh the man and on 76 minutes Simpson delivered a corner low to the near post. The ball appeared to bounce up and hit a City player's arm and from there Savage simply swung a boot at it and it somehow ended up in the net.

Shire were back on top but a winner was by no means assured. With everyone asking when the replay would take place, Savage was fouled on the edge of the box with six minutes left. Simpson grabbed the ball before hitting the free-kick through a defensive wall that simply disintegrated and into the back of the net.

Edinburgh City : Monteith, Hall, K. Ross, MacNamara, Bain, Hunter, Caddow, Campbell(Young 80), R. Ross(Clee 82), Morrison, Gair(Ksai 88).

Shire : Hill, Gibb, Doyle, King(Donaldson 76), Thywissen, Oates, Brownlie, Moffat, Savage, K. McBride(Simpson 62), Ure.

Referee ; Frank McDermott

Attendance : 188.

 

 

 

 

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