Thistle crash out of Scottish Cup to end their dream of glory

Oct 15 2008 by Paul Thomson, East Kilbride News

HOPES for a lengthy run in this season’s Scottish Junior Cup were dashed as East Kilbride Thistle fell 3-1 to a superior Whitburn side on Saturday afternoon.

Colin Mitchell’s side were under pressure for long spells of this intriguing tie and despite Alex Lurinsky’s opener just before the break, Gareth Davies’ exquisite equaliser brought prolonged hope for the local side.

But almost as soon as Davies’ strike hit the back of the net, Andrew Doig regained Whitburn’s lead deep into first half stoppage time and the East Region side never looked back to book their next round spot.

In a week that saw revelations of a new planned stadium on the site of the Showpark, Thistle’s encounter with Whitburn ironically had to be moved to Blantyre Vics’ Castle Park.

But the real story was out on the pitch as the Jags aimed for another run in the juniors’ premier cup competition, with Mitchell making his managerial debut in this tournament.

And after good pressure from Whitburn, they deservedly took the lead on 42 minutes when Hannah’s flick left the struggling Stuart Sangster chasing shadows before delivering into the area.

Lurinsky was in the right place at the right time to finish the cross from 10 yards out to find the net.

The spongy surface was never going to make this cup tie a classic by any means, but Gareth Davies’ wonderful equaliser on the stroke of half time gave the watching supporters hope.

A poor clearance by Jamie Mackay fell to Davies on the inside left, who cut inside and unleashed a deadly dipping shot that flew over Burn keeper Stewart Walker and into the net.

But the celebrations had barely died down when Whitburn found their way to goal again after the referee, bizarrely, played three minutes of first half injury time.

A break down the left following the restart allowed Dolan to cross into Thistle’s area with Hannah producing an excellent half volley into the top corner.

With Sangster still suffering the effects of his hip injury, Jags boss Colin Mitchell made the correct decision in replacing him with new signing Andy Donaldson, who arrived at the Showpark from Cambuslang Rangers during the week.

Into the second half, and EK came out of the traps quickly plugging away, but to no avail. With the Jags looking unlikely to breach the Whitburn defence once more Alan McCrae replaced Paul Woods in the 72nd minute as the Jags went with three up front as they went in search of an equaliser.

Despite EK’s best efforts though, it was the visitors who had the final say.

A well-placed cross from John Murphy across the face of goal found the unmarked Lurinsky, leaving him with an easy tap in to make it 3-1.

Both teams had attempted to play good football throughout, on a difficult surface. However, in the end it was the superior finishing from the Super Premier side which saw them through to the second round of Junior football’s premier tournament.