Hawick Royal Albert knocked out of cup by Highlanders for third time in 11 years

Hawick Royal Albert losing 2-1 at home to Golspie Sutherland in the Scottish Cup's second preliminary round (Photo: Brian Sutherland)

Hawick Royal Albert were knocked out of the Scottish Cup by Highlanders Golspie Sutherland for the third time in 11 years on Saturday.

The North Caledonian Football League side edged out the Borderers by 2-1 at their Albert Park home ground at the weekend in the cup’s second preliminary round to book a first-round tie at home to Scottish Highland Football League outfit Forres Mechanics on Saturday, September 23.

That was their third win in three games away to the Royalists in the cup, Golspie having beaten them 4-2 in the first round in 2012 and 2-0 in the preliminary round in 2021.

Albert, reduced to ten men by a 45th-minute sending-off for Jack McAlpine, went behind to Golspie on the half-hour mark, equalised via David Scholtes on 55 minutes, from a Greg Ford assist, but conceded again 21 minutes later.

The visitors’ scorers were Korbyn Cameron and Mark Mackenzie.

A Borders derby is next up for Albert as they’re away to Linton Hotspur in the East of Scotland Football League’s third division this coming Saturday, with kick-off at 3pm.

Their West Linton hosts, managed by Chris King, were beaten 4-0 at home by West Lothian’s Fauldhouse United in the league on Saturday, leaving them third from bottom of the table on three points from five fixtures, two places and four points worse off than Albert.

Manager Kenny Aitchison’s Royalists have won two games so far this campaign to Hotspur’s one, their last having been against table-toppers Bathgate Thistle a week ago on Saturday.